As Yet Untitled
by bellerophon30
Summary: A Post-Hallows story, not counting the Epilogue. Harry and company are adults now and new pressures arise, along with a new/old villain, shifting loyalties, and things are not always as they seem.
1. The Beginning

Author's Note: This story is canon compliant up to, but not necessarily including, the Hallows epilogue and subsequent JKR interviews. That means that anything written after page 749 of HPDH and spoken of by JKR after the book came out is up in the air here. This story also has no relation to any other stories I've written, nor will any of their original characters be ported over.

The Beginning:

In the ensuing months after The Battle of Hogwarts, it was decided that Harry Potter and his classmates would repeat their last year of schooling, even those who had lasted the year under then Headmaster Snape, creating a jumbo Class of 1998. The school year was uneventful, compared to the cataclysmic events of the previous seven, though issues did crop up…….as well as the aftershocks of the last days of the man who called himself Lord Voldemort. This is a chronicle of some of what happened after Harry Potter graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This story begins approximately 14 months after The Battle of Hogwarts and the death of Tom Marvolo Riddle:

Friday, July 2, 1999

Hogwarts Private Dining Area

7:30 pm GMT

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall surveyed the large class of graduates seated at the tables in front of her. Her remarks were to be brief, not a public speaker was she:

"I would like to congratulate all of the Hogwarts Class of 1998, both the students who were supposed to graduate this year, and those who should have graduated last year…….and would have, if not for certain events." She smiled ruefully and most of the young people shared her look. She paused and looked at the "Potter" table, as she had thought of it through dinner. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna……and George, who had returned for his final three months of school. Seven students, among many others, who had risked everything for Hogwarts. A tear fell down her face as she thought of it, and quickly turned her head so that people wouldn't see.

But they did, and it touched even the cynical heart of Blaise Zabini, he of the many step-fathers. She continued:

"You have all represented us honorably during your time here, and I know that you will continue to do so upon your entrance into our society." Nice words, and it took every ounce of willpower Harry and company had not to look over at Draco Malfoy as she said it, though a few of the faculty were not so reluctant. Young Malfoy had only been readmitted to school under a plea agreement with The Ministry, though he had kept as low a profile as he possibly could during the last year. To her credit, McGonagall had made it a blanket statement, whatever she privately felt about certain students.

"Now, if you will all stand and face The Sorting Hat."

They rose and the battered old hat was placed in front of the faculty table, it opened it's 'mouth', and in it's customary hoarse and sardonic voice, screamed out:

"You are hereby graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

This was a new addition to the "ceremony", a Flitwick suggestion, and everyone raised their glasses at his signal:

"To Hogwarts!"

And a big cheer let loose, deafening the room, as fully one quarter of the student body was present.

The party began to break up a few minutes later, as McGonagall and Flitwick eased over to Harry's table, motioning for the no-longer-technically-kids to stick around. When it was just the nine of them:

"Congratulations to all of you, I am so proud. I only wish Albus and Fred could have been here to witness it." The Headmistress had had a new favorite student these last few months, George, and pretty much let him get away with whatever he wanted. He walked over and hugged her, which no one would have done to the pre-war McGonagall.

"Thank you ma'am, he would have loved it, they both would have." George had not been the purveyor of mayhem he had been before, since his twin's death, but he was still the funniest person they knew. McGonagall squeezed back, and over George's shoulder:

"Ronald, are you prepared for your new prank responsibilities?"

Ron would be joining WWW as a junior partner, entrusted with managing the shop, as he had little aptitude for inventions.

"Yes ma'am, I hope to live up to the family name." They all got a chuckle from that, even Hermione, who still disapproved, quietly, the entire idea of WWW.

"Miss Granger, you will need to report back here in three weeks to assist with the Hogwarts letters to the incoming students."

"I'll be here Professor, I can't wait to get started." Hermione would be the new History of Magic teacher, Binns having finally decided that retirement was what he wanted most from death. She would be the only one of the seven to remain at school, at least until the faculty wore Harry and Neville down into returning someday.

"I'm sure I'll see everyone soon. Thank you." She shook hands with all of them, and a silent Flitwick followed her out the door. Harry took a long look at his friends, and decided that haste did not make waste.

"Well I'll see you all on Sunday, must get going." He walked as quickly out of the room as dignity would allow, and it was telling that no one was trying to stop him. Hermione and Luna looked like they were tempted though, and Hermione had "that look" on her face as she addressed it.

"This has got to stop, I mean honestly."

Ron shrugged, he and Harry had reached an agreement not to talk about it any longer.

"What do you expect Hermione? I mean he gets an hour of sleep every night, if that."

"There must be some potions out there that he hasn't tried."

Harry had been plagued with nightmares when he could get to sleep and insomnia the rest of the time, ever since he had 'died'. The Boy Who Lived had not gotten more than two hours sleep in any night in 14 months, and Pomfrey had exhausted her options. The four other Eighth Year Gryffindor boys had taken to be on Harry watch on a rotating basis, especially after a November incident had almost destroyed the room around them when Harry thought he was being attacked. It had been a long school year for everyone involved, and Harry's jet black hair was now streaked with white.

Neville just shook his head as he prepared to leave.

"He won't take them Hermione, you know that. He's afraid that he's going mad, and I'm not sure that he's wrong."

"He needs to talk to us."

"Have you ever died Hermione? He wonders every night if he's going to wake up again, and I think part of him wouldn't mind it if he didn't. No, Harry will talk to us if and when he's ready, and not before." Neville himself had been plagued with 'what if' questions ever since he had learned of his own potential role in Trelawney's Prophecy.

Hermione knew that on some level Neville was right, but she wouldn't admit defeat.

"I'll talk to him at The Burrow on Sunday, I'll have Molly tie him down if necessary."

Ginny didn't say a word, she was the next out the door. She was starting the Muggle Affairs Office on Monday, as Arthur's assistant. She and Harry had called another halt to their relationship once Harry had started becoming unstable, but none of them kept a closer non-nighttime eye on him than she did.

Luna put her hand on Hermione's arm.

"We'll try again Hermione, as much as it takes." Hermione squeezed the hand, she could always count on Luna.

"Thanks Luna, I know we'll get through eventually. Maybe being away from here will do him some good."

The five of them walked back up to The Great Hall, where their trunks were waiting for them. There was no Hogwarts Express for the graduates, as they would all be Apparating or Flooing to their residences, and most goodbyes had been said before the dinner. They got up there to find, not surprisingly, that Harry had already left. He would be living in Grimmauld Place, the old Order headquarters.

Neville was set to join him there the following week, at his own insistence, feeling that Harry needed someone to keep a loose eye on him, and his friend had barely put up a fight about it. Ginny and Ron would still be living in The Burrow for the time being, just down the road from Luna and her father, while Hermione was going to enjoy one last vacation in Majorca with her dentist parents before she took over her quarters at Hogwarts.

An hour later:

Number 12 Grimmauld Place:

Harry arrived in his 'new' home with such a sense of relief that he couldn't have described it to anyone even if they had asked him to. The house was totally empty, not a house elf or servant in sight, and he spent his first 30 minutes of post-graduation just walking around. He had visited this house during the Easter vacation, after being coerced into a Burrow Christmas, but it hadn't been the same as now. Kreacher was still at Hogwarts for the time being, as Harry just did not want the reminder right now. Speaking of which:

He walked over to a wizard photograph hanging on the wall. It was of Remus and Tonks, holding young Teddy.

"Well I did it guys, I got out of that place in one piece." He paused for a moment, almost as if expecting an answer.

Instead, Remus and Tonks just waved at him, smiling happily. The sight lifted his spirits even more as he looked at the baby, who was now over a year old and living with his maternal grandmother, Andromeda Tonks. The sight of Remus smiling always rocked Harry a little, since his parents' friend always seemed either sad or serious in Harry's memories. This photo, which he had not seen taken of course, was quite literally his only memory of Remus laughing.

"Don't worry Teddy, I'll be looking out for you. I won't abandon you the way I was, I promise."

Unpacking was slow and deliberate, after which he took a stroll around the neighborhood, getting re-familiar with the sights and sounds of his new home. He worked up a nice sweat, and after a long shower sat down to read a little. He dozed off around 10:00 and did not wake up until 2:30 am, and only then due to a call of nature that would not hang up.

It was his longest sleep in over a year, he even got two hours afterward before the nightmares woke him up again. The next night he would still get four hours, off and on, even though every slight noise woke him up, wand quickly drawn and at the ready. It was a start though.

Sunday, July 4, 1999

The Burrow

Noon

Molly Weasley bustled around her kitchen, getting ready for the big graduation party. It wasn't often that a family had three children graduating from the same school at the same time, especially three children of differing ages…….but the Weasley matriarch was very pleased with how the last year had gone. She peered at the family clock, which now had places for Hermione and Harry, and saw that everyone was either there or in transit, aside from Harry. No one had been in mortal peril, to her eyes, since the Battle of Hogwarts.

Though back in November Ron had almost been taken out by a screaming, extremely sleep deprived Harry, who was convinced that his roommates were Death Eaters attempting to finish some business. But Molly didn't know about any of that, and it was a sign of Ron's maturity that he not only held nothing against Harry, but had kept it quiet from the Weasley adults as well.

By 12:30 everyone was there but Harry, and he arrived 10 minutes later as everyone was sitting down to eat. He squeezed Molly's shoulder as he took his place between her and Ginny.

"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up in something." He was smiling, somewhat pleasantly, and Molly ventured a question:

"How have you been sleeping Harry dear?"

Indeed everyone was peering rather closely at him, they could actually see white in his eyeballs rather the bloodshot look of the past months. Hermione's theory was now looking pretty golden. Harry wanted to be irritated by the scrutiny, but understood where it came from and that he, to an extent, deserved it.

"Not bad actually, though I'm still getting used to the place. Neville, your wing is all set up, you can move in any time."

"I've got my stuff with me here, I was figuring on going back with you."

"Works for me." He dug into the slice of glazed ham on his plate and proceeded to demolish, figuratively, every bit of food Molly could put in front of him. He said little, aware that everyone would be reading much into any word or gesture he made. Molly and Arthur, grateful that he had shown up at all after all his Christmas resistance, chose not to prod him about what he had been doing, and instead let Percy and Hermione dominate the conversation, as was the usual habit lately.

Percy was now serving as the Deputy Chief Scribe to The Wizengamot, which as the title suggests was pretty much eight hours a day of paperwork. It was not quite a demotion from his old position, but he seemed happy with it. He had moved back home after the battle and his relations with his siblings had never been stronger.

He still wouldn't go near Arthur's shed though, with it's muggle items. He told his father that a line had to be drawn somewhere.

Hermione was all bubbling excitement about her new job, she had been the only Class of 1998 member to have been offered an immediate spot on the faculty. She and Ron were still a couple, though she had firmly told her boyfriend that there was to be no talk of marriage anytime soon. Molly had dropped so many hints over Easter that Hermione was wary of even thinking about becoming an official Weasley before she was settled in adulthood. She let none of that show here, and instead continued her Percy project, which was meant to ensure no more ostracism of the 'odd' Weasley. She basically interviewed him throughout the meal, but was so skillful at it that Percy didn't seem to understand that he was being manipulated.

Harry just sat there and listened to it, not contributing any words but nodding at the appropriate places in the discourse. He was full of energy after his extra, for him, sleep of the last two nights. He didn't want to get people's hopes up though, or perhaps even his own.

No such luck though, as Hermione snagged him for a walk after the dessert was finished. Her new 'cause' was the rights of garden gnomes, and whenever she visited The Burrow she made a point of taking them some food. Usually Ron went with her, and everyone assumed that they were just going off to snog.

Not this time though, and Harry was feeling just chipper enough to make a joke about it, once they got to the hedge, though they were still just in sight of the kitchen window if a person inside the kitchen was looking from the correct angle.

"You know, not that I would mind a snog with you Hermione, in theory, but I think Ron would hex us both……." That's as far as he got before she swatted him on the arm.

"Oh shut it you." She was grinning though, Harry had not been one for too many jokes over the last year or so.

"Shut it eh? I thought we were out here to talk? Or was the idea that you would do the talking and I would do the listening?" He sounded genial enough when he said it, but he just assumed that was what she wanted. Indeed Hermione did have a mental list of questions ready.

"You look rested."

"Four hours a night the last couple."

"Do you feel better?" Said in her earnest Hermione way, and Harry responded to it.

"A little yeah. It's hard, but I'm getting by."

"And the nightmares?"

"Still there, but not as bad the last couple of nights."

"A corner has been turned maybe?"

Harry was wondering why these seemingly obvious questions needed to be asked in private, but he decided to let Hermione un-spool this out in her own way and did her the courtesy of being honest.

"Maybe, one can hope anyway." His voice tried for noncommittal, but Hermione was tuned to it enough that she could hear the hope. She took his hand and squeezed it, he squeezed back.

"I'm glad Harry. I was hoping that leaving the castle would do that for you."

"So was I, though I'll still come visit you occasionally."

"You'd better. Does this mean that you and Ginny might have a chance?" An abrupt segue.

Here was where the wicket got a bit stickier, and Harry was a bit wary of how much to share here. He knew that while Hermione would choose him over Ginny in theory……..but at least now he knew the real reason she had brought him out to talk.

"Just between you and me?"

Hermione know this wouldn't be good, but there was nothing else to say but:

"Of course."

"Then no, I don't want to try again with Ginny. I love her, really I do……but there's just so much pressure attached. It just radiates from Molly every time I see her, that's mostly why I didn't want to come here for Christmas. It's just too much sometimes and I have so many other issues to deal with. It's like if we don't wind up getting married and having kids and whatnot, then everyone will be so disappointed. Better they get a little disappointed now than that much more so later." That was the longest speech Harry had ever given on the subject of Ginny since it had all happened, Ginny was another area where he and Ron had simply agreed to drop it.

"Perhaps that's another area where time and some distance from events might help?" Hermione said this because she felt that she must, but in reality she fully sympathized with the idea of Molly pressuring. It was one reasons she had put off marriage with Ron, to the point of even discouraging him from trying to propose.

"I won't rule it out, if that's what you're hinting at." His voice had a distinct lack of enthusiasm for ruling it in, so Hermione shifted tack a hair.

"Does Ginny know?" She sure sounded hopeful that she did.

"I've dropped some hints, but nothing has been flat out said. Is that what you brought me out here for? To talk about Ginny? I mean none of your other questions needed to be private." No more patience with un-spooling, or so it seemed, but Harry's voice was gentle and curious.

"Would you rather I had asked about her in there?"

"That would have been a little tacky……….but I still would have responded honestly. Probably." A rueful smile accompanied that last word.

"I guess I just wanted an inside scoop, I know they're all wondering about you, after the way the last year has been. I felt you might respond to someone who isn't pressuring you."

Harry's first thought was that this was indeed pressure, but for some reason he could take it better from Hermione than Molly.

"Look, Ginny and I are not a couple, and while I'm not seeking any dates out, I don't really want to have to talk about it with them all the time. Ron's left it alone, thank God, George too, and I'm going to be grateful for large favors and not press my luck."

"Fair enough, though I won't promise not to bring it up again."

That elicited a smile from Harry, and he took a piece of bread from her and hurled it over to the garden gnomes. By now the gnomes recognized Hermione, the lack of red hair was the proverbial dead giveaway, so they always knew that a meal was present when she was…….so they were waiting patiently on the other side of the hedge, giggling all the while.

The two of them talked Quidditch for a bit, something Hermione was getting more and more used to as Harry had signed to play with Puddlemere United, home to his old captain Oliver Wood, not to mention his old teammate Katie Bell. Training began in two weeks and Harry was due to start informal training a week before that. She still didn't want to hear about strategies or moves or anything of the like, but she tried to draw Harry out any nerves he might be feeling, or whether turning down the Auror Academy had been a good idea or not. It was shades of Percy actually, but unlike his red haired friend Harry was all too hip to it.

But he didn't mind, after all that time on the road during Hallows year, Harry was willing to indulge pretty much anything from Hermione if it made her happy.

They wandered back to the house, where Harry was prevailed upon to eat some more treacle tart. Not that he needed much prevailing in point of fact, it was much better than the store bought version he had purchased the day before at Sainsbury's and polished off 30 minutes later, he was at least comforted by the fact that his appetite was coming back. Molly, again sensing an opening, volunteered to get Harry and Neville a regular Sunday supply of it. To her shock Harry smilingly agreed, and even volunteered to do a de-gnoming once a month in compensation. Molly finally relaxed around him, and Arthur was full of good cheer as well.

Everything ended on a friendly note and more visits were promised. Harry and Neville flooed back to Grimmald Place and got Neville set up in record time. They were in the kitchen eating spaghetti when Neville brought up the party.

"So today wasn't too painful, was it?" Neville thought he was making a joke, but Harry's response had a slight edge to it.

"Everyone needs to stop building things up so much, not everything in life needs to be so momentous."

Neville kept smiling, to try and defuse the sudden tension.

"That's the way we've been trained you know."

"Well we need to un-do that training for the time being." Harry's tone of voice was equal parts exasperated and amused, but Neville's continual smile was making him…….well he wasn't frowning.

"Until the next Voldemort comes along."

"That'll be someone else's problem then, I'm done with it."

"If only it will be that easy. You're the next Dumbledore, you realize this don't you?"

The Daily Prophet had been full of speculation about this very theory, so it wasn't news to Harry.

"I don't see why you can't be the next Dumbledore, Mr. Auror-to-be."

Neville was the only member of the DOM crew to accept the invitation to join the Auror Academy, though all of them were asked. Even Luna, who no one even in her circle thought of as Auror material, was recruited, but she was going to right to work for her father at The Quibbler.

"This is just something to keep me occupied until Professor Sprout retires, it's not like I have ambitions to be Head Auror or anything."

"Maybe you should, I'd love to see you as Minister someday."

That lightened up the conversation, as while they cleaned up the dinner mess they had a lively discussion of the new Minister and what he should be doing. Gawain Robards, who had succeeded Rufus Scrimgeour as Head Auror, had been elected back in January. Robards had largely sat out the Pius Thicknesse administration, such as it was, taking a leave of absence to deal with 'family matters'. Not many knew quite what to make of that reason, but he had still survived the war with his reputation intact, which was more than a lot of Ministry workers could say. Thicknesse had been under Imperious the entire time, but was still seen as a security risk and was currently shunted into a mid-level position within the Ministry.

As they were heading off to their respective rooms, Neville threw out what he thought would be another innocuous comment:

"I wonder what Malfoy will be doing now?"

He was surprised when Harry jerked to a stop, with a curious look on his face.

"What?"

"I don't know Neville, I've been wondering too." Harry and Malfoy had not exchanged a word since the final battle and Harry's one part that he was willing to play in the political aftermath was to vociferously argue against any amnesty for high ranking Death Eaters, including anyone with the surname Malfoy. He did so in private though, not wanting to use The Daily Prophet against someone else the way it had been used against him……so he was unclear if his old adversary even knew about it.

"He's kept his nose clean, you have to give him that much."

"I don't have to give him anything, he tried for a year to kill Dumbledore. Luna was a prisoner in his family's house, his nuthouse aunt killed Dobby…….need I go on?"

"I'm just saying, it's possible for people to change. I mean Snape pulled it off, somehow, there's no reason Draco can't either."

This was very Dumbledorian of Neville, wanting to see the best in people, or at least the best that the 'could' be, and Harry had to admire that. He grudgingly said so out loud now:

"Well like you said, if he keeps his nose clean, I won't bother him."

They said their goodnights and Harry went into his room. Neville lingered for a bit and put up a Listening Charm on Harry's doorway area. The rooms were not soundproofed, and Neville felt it was best to hear if Harry's nightmares got particularly intense.

They didn't, at least not this night, as Harry's Death Eater dreams only woke up Neville one time, though in the brief moment that he was awake, he distinctly heard Harry say:

"I'll kill you Malfoy!"

It only happened one time that night though, and after Harry volunteered the next morning that he got just a bit less than five hours of sleep, Neville decided not to mention it unless it became a recurring theme.

Flashback to Graduation Night:

Malfoy Manor

One hour after the dinner ended:

Draco took his trunk out of his pocket, tossing it still shrunk onto his bed. The house was riddled with anti-Apparition wards and he had had to floo in from Hogsmeade, so he knew that his parents would have heard the fireplace firing. He counted the seconds in his head and was not surprised when he did not reach 30 before his mother strode in, putting her arm around him in a way that she never would have deigned to before certain events.

"Draco, why didn't you tell us you were home?"

"I wanted to put my things away first, I was going to come by the parlor in a minute." His father chose that moment to walk in then.

"Draco, welcome home."

"Thank you Father."

Both brief and to the point, with not so much as a handshake, so Mother Malfoy filled the breach.

"How was the Leaving Dinner?"

"It was fine, McGonagall was boring as usual, but nothing really happened."

"Well it's good to have you back here." She hugged him again, and this time he responded a little bit, though his mother's warmth toward him was still a bit hard to get used to. She swept out of the room at an unseen signal from Lucius, and the Malfoy boys were alone at last.

"Are you prepared to start work on Monday, or will you want to take a holiday? Our cottage in Bermuda has been restored and is ready for you if you want to go there for a week or two."

Work was Malfoy Enterprises, what was left of the family business after Ministry fines and other reparations that Lucius had been required to pay in order for he and the rest of the family to have a theoretically clean slate. Draco had accepted the job offer for lack of any other non-Quidditch options, and he was still wanting to lay low for awhile, telling the Cannons that he was not interested in playing during the coming season. He was a bit surprised at the vacation offer though, this was not like his father.

"I'm ready to begin work whenever you need me to Father."

"Very well, you shall come with Monday, we have some meetings to attend to."

"That's fine, I'll be ready." This was hard business, being so stiff and formal all the time, but young Malfoy was finally getting used to it. He had suspicions of his father's offer, and it was quickly rewarded.

"Good, we'll be going to Knockturn to meet with some people about The Ministry."

"What are the meetings to be about?"

"As I said Draco, The Ministry. It has new policies and people, and we must be ready to bear influence on both if we are to thrive in this new order of things."

"Are you supporting Robards then?"

"No this family will not support that coward. I could respect him a little bit if he had chosen the other side and been part of the victory, but instead he fled. There are other options to pursue, and you will be a key part of those discussions."

This was what Draco had been afraid of.

"Really, you are aware that I'm only 19 years old?" So much for the formality, though he stopped short of the sarcastic drawl that he was aching to break out during times like this. Lucius seemed to sense this, but then again his own sneer never truly left his face.

"You are the scion of this family Draco and thus a leader of those who share our views."

"What makes you so sure that I still share your views of the world? This is our longest conversation in over a year." He was not rewarded by so much as a flinch, bluffing though he was.

"Because you have no other choice, no other options. The Potter side will not take you, and you want the ease and influence that our money will allow you. Be at breakfast by 7:00 am Monday morning, we leave an hour later." With that, he left the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. Draco, relieved that he would not need to be dining with the family during the weekend, flipped the door closed himself with his wand and sat on his bed, pondering.

Monday morning would be here soon enough.

End Chapter


	2. All Along the Watchtower

Monday, July 5, 1999

9:00 am

Borgin and Burkes, Knockturn Alley

B&B was just how Draco had remembered it, all musty and full of things that he did not dare touch. Borgin led the two Malfoys down to the basement, where the private meeting was to take place. Draco spent the time watching his father, who still had the same arrogant/confident bearing that he always did, despite being on the losing side of the last war…….and having to beg for forgiveness to boot. The 19 year old didn't know whether to be impressed or astonished at this attitude, it took a lot of moxie to pull it off. He himself had just kept his head down and spent all of his free time in the library studying for NEWT's. He figured if he was in plain sight all of the time, no one would suspect anything, and thus not hassle him. It worked, though at the cost of a very lonely year, even if his grades had never been better. But above all else, Draco had felt that he needed a quiet year at school. He got his wish, and now considered his batteries to be recharged sufficiently.

They got to the meeting room, and found that they were fashionably early, the first ones there. That soon changed as within 15 minutes the room was filled with two dozen repatriated Death Eaters and other Dark sympathizers. There were murmured greetings and a few side conversations that immediately got started as everyone waited for things to start. A quick visual scan by Draco revealed that he was the youngest in the room by a considerable margin, he didn't recognize anyone that he might have gone to school with.

Lucius called the meeting to order:

"All right, let's settle down and talk about why we're here: Gawain Robards, the faux Minister, and how we must deal with him. There are also the statuses of Minerva McGonagall and Harry Potter to address." That last name sure got a reaction, and Efrimias Yaxley, one of Voldemort's right hand men at the end, stepped forward.

"What about Potter? Are you contemplating a move against him?" It did not sound as if Yaxley was eager to hear an affirmative answer to his query.

"Not necessarily Yaxley, I would like to keep him contained for a time. I have heard stories and innuendo that he did not come through the war without emotional and psychological problems, and I would like to see what we can do to exacerbate them if we can. I do not want him dead, we do not need another martyr on their side. In retrospect killing Dumbledore was the one of the worst things that could have happened for our side."

This set off a 10 minute long shouting match between the half of them that thought that Voldemort's decisions should not be questioned even 14 months after his death, and the other half who only saw the 'lose' part when it came to the war and wanted to be realistic. Lucius was in the latter camp it seemed, but allowed the argument to go on for a time, if only to make sure nothing festered.

"All right, let's settle back down. Thank you." He paused to indeed let them settle down, and then continued.

"Now I am not here to try and criticize our former Master, but our mistake was in thinking that he was perfect and made no mistakes. Well he was not, and he did, and the trouble was that none of us were allowed to point them out. Sometimes a devil's advocate is needed and we did not have one." More buzz created by that last comment, though it was a buzz of agreement for the most part.

Yaxley again:

"Are you talking about reforming the Death Eaters? Under whose authority?" Surely not yours, is what everyone took to mean that he was implying, but he was tactful enough not to say it out loud. Lucius took his point though:

"I am saying that we need to form a new organization to get our views out there, though I believe that we should retire the term 'Death Eater'. Way too negative in terms of publicity, and it reminds people of our past failures. As for a leader? No, I will not attempt to assume a post that I have not earned. I believe the muggle term is oligarchy, or perhaps junta. And if a leader should rise to the top, so much the better."

That took everyone a little by surprise again, as no one seemed to know what to say next. Lucius loved this little detail, and turned to his son.

"Draco, would you like to add anything?"

Though he had been silent during the arguments, he had to admire the way his father had been managing the meeting so far. He decided to jump in with both feet, having had a weekend to think about what he would say:

"What we need to decide soon, though not necessarily today, is if we are going to attempt to overthrow the Ministry by violence, or by politics. I do not think both will work simultaneously. My view is that it should be through politics at first, then violence to take it the rest of the way if necessary."

"What are you basing this on?" This was Devlin Parkinson, Pansy's father.

"On the fact that we lost the last war, and any definition of insanity involves doing the same thing the same way over and over again and expecting different results. The only other option is an immediate murder campaign against anyone we feel would not support us." His voice took on a notable lack of enthusiasm for the second option.

Said option, of course was a bit much for all but the most ruthless in the room, even if it was the most direct method. Voldemort, for reasons unclear to anyone save the dead Bella Lestrange, had not pursued such a strategy himself, despite his taste for death. In his most private moments, Draco felt that leaving Longbottom and the Weasleys alive to foment insurrection had been his former Lord's greatest blunder, and a fatal one at that. Lucius, not knowing this, still looked at his son with a new measure of respect, though he did not let it show on his face. He took the meeting back over:

"Now the one thing we have in our favor is that the muggleborn population has been seriously diminished due to our efforts, there are roughly 45 percent fewer muggleborn Witches and Wizards than before Thicknesse was installed as Minister, a great gain for our cause. We need to start winnowing that 55 percent down some more, with general harassment, and perhaps a few "accidents" as well. Nothing too obvious or excessive, at least at first. Yaxley, would you be interested in heading a group to make plans with those goals in mind?" He sensed that Yaxley would be his biggest rival here, and quickly decided to co-opt him if he could.

"I can handle that." Yaxley, not unaware that he was being co-opted, nevertheless decided to go along with things for the time being.

"Excellent, I was hoping you would. Now I will volunteer to get the political face of our organization ready, our public face if you will. All of those standing to the left of me will report back here for our first meeting next week, while everyone else will see Efrimias for details on your part of the operation. Any questions or problems?"

There didn't seem to be any, and Lucius had made sure of where he was standing before he made the left/right assignments. Draco was on his right, and would be his eyes and ears with Yaxley. Draco noticed this immediately, and quickly sidled up to Yaxley to talk about things.

The rest of the meeting was made up of mini-meetings and conferences, and by 10:00 am the Malfoy men were out the door, after ascertaining that no Auror type people had been outside or in the near vicinity. They strode over to the Leaky Cauldron, which was the sight of their next meeting, and an early lunch.

"You performed well Draco."

"Thank you Father, I thought you handled them quite skillfully."

"The trick was to make them think they weren't being handled at all. I was impressed by your views, for a little while there I was wondering if we were still in agreement on the future course."

"I suppose I did not want you to take me for granted."

"I do not, not anymore. Not after Dumbledore."

A sore subject to a point, and it had almost caused divorce between Lucius and Narcissa.

"It was too soon for me Father, I know that now." Draco admitting to a mistake was not one of life's more common occurrences, but he didn't mind doing it in front of his father.

"Perspective is always useful."

"Just make sure there are no more Prophecies that will trip us up this time."

Lucius paused for a moment, and then they both started chuckling, the first laugh they had shared in quite a long time.

"Duly noted."

Their next meeting was with the Ministry of Magic version of their probation officer, and they obediently promised that they were not even considering any insurrections against the lawful government or it's leaders.

Flashback to 9:30 am

Notting Hill area of London

Harry walked up to Andromeda Tonks' flat and rang the bell. He couldn't stop looking around, though in theory no one here should have ever heard of him. Despite living in a muggle neighborhood himself, he was still getting used to the anonymity that a non-Hogwarts life allowed him. After a few seconds the door was opened. It was Andromeda Tonks, who was smilingly pleased to see him, and he was on time to boot.

"Hi there Harry, come on in."

"Thanks Andromeda, you're looking well."

Indeed she was, well over a year into widowhood. Andromeda, sister to the late Bellatrix Lestrange and the current Mrs. Malfoy, was a primary school teacher in the local muggle school and thus had the summer off this year. There was a day care center next door to the school, so Teddy had been nearby the entire time. She had used the standard 'they died in a car crash' story to explain why she was taking care of her grandson.

"How's my godson doing?" More looking around, though there was little in the flat to indicate that Andromeda was a Witch. There wasn't even a floo fireplace.

"Fit and fiddle, thank goodness. He had that cold last week, but he seems to have shaken it off." Andromeda had been Harry's one constant pen pal during his final year of school, sending him weekly updates on Teddy. She was vaguely aware of his troubles this past year, but as Harry wasn't keen on sharing details, had decided not to pry. She was just happy that he seemed to be taking such an interest in Teddy.

"Good, hopefully he'll enjoy our morning out."

And he did, Teddy James Lupin was a gurgling bundle of a little baby as Harry spent the next two hours walking him around in his stroller, stopping for a bit in one of the local parks. He was not the only adult figure with a small child in the park, but got some stares anyway due to his youth and being a male. No one approached him though, and he was pretty much oblivious to it anyway, he even proved to be a natural at diaper changing. He kept up a very Luna like commentary to Teddy, more a stream of consciousness rambling than anything, but the youngster seemed entertained enough. This was Harry's second actual outing with his godson, he had shaken free of the Weasleys long enough for one during Christmas, and Harry fully planned on this being a twice weekly event at the very least.

His wand never made an appearance, there were just enough people around to make it iffy, so he never noticed the Auror detailed to watch him, or the Malfoy retainer who was being paid to do the same. The two of them noticed each other though, and Lucius Malfoy and Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt would both receive reports on more than just Harry this day. Kingsley, widely thought to the be the next Minister, would debate with his senior people for days on whether Harry should be told about his watchers or not.

Harry would visit Teddy again on Thursday, this time bringing Luna along during her lunch break. Andromeda's eyes would go way way up at this addition to the trip, but she asked no questions and Luna seemed to take to Teddy right away, and vice versa. Harry's goal was to have all of his friends take a turn on his visits, so that Teddy could get used to his extended family.

He skipped The Burrow on Sunday, in spite of Molly's assurances that he was always welcome. He sensed that Molly was revving up to try and get him and Ginny back together again, and Harry wanted no part of that. Instead he pulled out a somewhat new typewriter that he had found in the study, and started work on his 'project', as he told it to Neville. He would say nothing more, and made sure to charm the finished sheets of paper so that only he could read them.

The other development during the week, was that he visited a muggle physician and received a sleeping pill prescription. This was something he had long wanted Pomfrey to try, but she had refused to use anything muggle in nature. He had been getting five hours a night solidly being out of the castle, but he knew Quidditch was coming up and wanted to see if he could go all the way. The entire visit took less than 30 minutes, one look at Harry's eyes convinced the doctor that Harry was suffering from some form of insomnia.

The pills worked too, much to Harry's delight. He got a full eight hours the first night, with not one nightmare. The second night was a little less, but still nothing that woke him up that wasn't urine related. He debated sending a Howler to Pomfrey for her anti-muggle drug attitude, but Neville talked him out of it. He said that Pomfrey had put enough time and trouble into Harry's sleeping issues that she deserved a pass. Harry agreed in principle, but he was supposed to see Hermione in the castle later in the month, when he would also be seeing Kreacher to sort out if he would be coming back to Grimmauld Place:

"So if I run into her, I'm not guaranteeing that I won't say anything."

"Well just don't send a Howler, that's all I'm asking."

"Eh, you don't ask for much I guess. All right." Said grudgingly, but Neville would take what he could get here.

Monday, July 12, 1999

West Aberdeen Quidditch Field

11:30 am

The informal workout, not quite voluntary in nature, had just concluded, and Harry had not been so physically tired in years…….non-dying category. It had been three hours solid of flying, with only one five minute break to look forward to. Team manager Clive Fitzgerald was considered the number one task master in British Quidditch, and since Puddlemere was coming off of the worst season in team history, things were not likely to get easier.

Harry dismounted as soon as he got to the ground, legs very wobbly, as Oliver Wood landed next to him. Wood was now starting Keeper for both Puddlemere and for Scotland, and was one of the few holdovers who were not held up as scapegoats for the rotten season. He wasn't Captain of this team, he was still way too young, but still treated Harry much the same as in their Hogwarts days.

"Well Harry my boy, what do you think of your first day?"

"I want a raise." Harry could laugh now that it was over, but was internally wondering how much tougher it would get.

Oliver laughed heartily, but was looking over his shoulder at the same time.

"Don't mention money around Clive, even in jest. He thinks we make too much as it is." Fitzgerald was also co-owner of the team, with his moneyed wife, so his own job was never in jeopardy.

"I plan on saying as little as possible, don't worry."

"I'm not, one of my selling points toward management was how quiet and unassuming you are, considering your fame and power."

This was news to Harry, who had not realized that a pimping of his talents had been necessary. Even sleep deprived and paranoid, he had still gotten all three Golden Snitches during his last season……..a season that remarkably featured no inconvenient detentions, game cancellations, or hospital ward visits at the wrong time. It was a bloody miracle really.

"Well whatever works I guess. What do we do now?" Fitzgerald had little use for rookies, even ones who were the number one overall pick in the draft, and he and Harry had not actually had a conversation as of yet, doing all contracts and such via owl post.

"This was it, we report back same time tomorrow and every weekday after that."

"You must love this, no school to interfere with playing and practicing."

"It does have it's advantages I must say, though I'm keeping busy otherwise. Hello, who's that, he looks familiar doesn't he?"

A large black man was approaching them, flanked by a pair of underlings, or perhaps bodyguards. Harry just sighed, as he had the sneaking suspicion that his past was about to interfere with his present, again. Once the three men got within non-shouting distance:

"Oliver Wood, meet Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt."

The two of them shook hands, as did Harry with his former Order friend, the underlings were not introduced. Oliver excused himself, and did not even throw in an admonition to Harry about not being late the next day. Harry turned to Kingsley.

"Well, well, a whole nine days since Hogwarts graduation and here you are. I'm surprised you could wait that long." Harry's tone was one of bemusement, even if there was not a smile on his face.

"It's good to see you too Harry. You're looking rested, even considering your practice."

"Being out of dusty old castles will do that for you. What's up?"

"We need to talk for a moment, there are some things you need to be made aware of."

"I'm meeting my godson in 30 minutes."

"I just came from Mrs. Tonks' flat, she's been made aware that you could be a few minutes late." Kingsley knew that Teddy Lupin would not really notice Harry being a bit late, but expected an argument anyway, and was proven correct:

"If only I had a say in this…….oh right, I do……..and maybe I don't want to have my visit delayed." He started walking, slowly, toward the changing area, and Kingsley had no choice but to follow him.

"Are you looking for me to beg you to talk?" He sure didn't sound like he was begging though.

"Not at all Kingsley, I have nothing but respect for you and your position. In fact you're damn near the only one in the Ministry's upper hierarchy that I can say that about."

Kingsley mentally sighed in relief at hearing that, so the lad was just being contrary because he could. This might not be so hard after all.

"This won't take long. May I ask how often you venture outside of our former Headquarters?"

"You wouldn't be asking me that if you didn't already know. But I'll confirm it for you: every day. I go for a walk in the afternoon and do my grocery shopping while I'm out, I supply the food and Neville does the cleaning up for the most part. And twice a week I go to see my godson. I doubt any of that will change now that I'm officially employed."

"No other side trips planned?"

"I haven't been to WWW yet, if that's what you're asking, and I'm trying to avoid The Burrow, though I would prefer that you not ask why."

"Fair enough Harry, and I'm genuinely not trying to tell you where not to go, or restrict your movements."

"How many people do you have watching me?"

"Just one for now." Kingsley was hoping that Harry was just guessing, only to be disabused of that by the lad's next comment.

"Tell them not to Apparate so loudly next time." Luna had been the one to hear it, on their Thursday visit, she could do it herself with total silence but had learned to pick up on the 'crack'. Harry felt that Kingsley didn't know who had sussed it out though.

"I'll be sure to let them know. Did you know that the Malfoys are tailing you as well?"

Harry stopped very suddenly, and had such a black look on his face that the Head Auror was very glad that Harry's wand was not out. No pun intended with the 'black look' thought either, as the expression reminded Kingsley very much of Sirius.

"Excuse me?"

"Our man on Monday noticed someone else following you, a known associate of Lucius Malfoy's back in the day." No need to say which day either.

Harry turned to the flunkies for a moment.

"Will you excuse us for a moment?" He grabbed Kingsley's arm and made an effort to pull him along faster to the locker room, and the much larger man allowed himself to be guided along. The underlings assented only when they got the nod from their boss. Once in private.

"Are you sure about this? That this person is Malfoy connected?"

"No, we are not 100 percent sure. But we're sure enough that I decided to tell you about it." Kingsley spoke in the same measured and calm tones that he always did, but he was prepared for the eruption that he knew was coming.

And he was not disappointed, as Harry started alternately pacing and shucking off his Quidditch gear, fortunately no one was left in the area.

"I told you bloody idiots, I told you not to pardon those people! One thing I ask for after I defeated the Dark Lord that none of you could handle on your best days, and you couldn't even do that for me! And now I turn out right after all, what a shocker!"

"I don't blame you for being angry, I would be too in your situation." Never mind that Kingsley had signed off on the Malfoy amnesty.

"Well that's all very Dumbledore of you Kingsley, but what, dare I ask, are you going to do about this?"

"I'm doing it now Harry, I'm warning you. Having someone followed without direct contact is not technically against the letter of the law, so while I can pick the person up, and for the record it's been the same person each time…….there are no charges I can make stick."

"And what happens if I take matters into my own hands?"

"I feel confident in saying that as long as no muggles witness it, then nothing will happen, legally."

Harry was now starkers, and ready to shower. He stepped into the nearest one, forcing Kingsley to stand next to it so that he could hear him out.

"Oh this is just wonderful, I have to handle things yet again. What do we pay taxes to you people for if not for things like this? Why does it always fall to me?"

"I'm sorry, I really am." And he was, though his tone of voice did not change appreciably.

"What is our dear Minister's position in all this?" Harry had met Robards one time, but the two had not spoken more than polite pleasantries.

"He has left it to my office to deal with, he prefers not to get in the middle."

"The middle of what? Of me and you? Or me and Malfoys' pere and fils?"

"He does not want to be your enemy, but he is also aware of your opinion of The Ministry." Which had not changed, and Robards had done Harry the courtesy of not trying to get him to be a pin-up boy for the government.

"A perfectly justified opinion if you ask me, I should have emigrated the day after graduation and been done with this place."

"I know you don't mean that."

"You hope." He didn't mean it, he was damned if he was going to be driven from his home country.

"Harry, I came here not as Head Auror, but as your friend. I want you to be prepared and ready, just in case."

"I am so very tired of all of this………but thank you Kingsley." He finished his shower, and was handed a towel.

"You're welcome."

"Am I the only one in my crowd that you're having watched?"

Kingsley, relieved that nothing was going to be destroyed apparently, did his young friend the courtesy of being frank.

"We're having a roving detail on Ron and Luna, since they are out 'in the world', so to speak. Neville and Ginny are in The Ministry during their working days, so they're fine, and while we do have a female Auror watching Hermione while she's in Spain, that will end once she's living and working in Hogwarts." Hogwarts, invasion notwithstanding, was still considered to be the most secure building in magical Britain.

"And Andromeda and Teddy?"

"Them too, with more coverage once Hermione's expires, we have only so much manpower." Hermione was due back on Sunday.

"Speaking of manpower, how is Neville doing so far? He keeps saying that he can't talk about it."

"He's doing fine, but it's the first period of a long process. I'm glad he's keeping his word though, thank you." Kingsley dearly wanted to put some kind of surveillance inside Grimmauld Place, but it was under Fidelius again and he knew that Harry was not one for inviting just anybody over.

Harry was now dressed and ready to go. A quick check of his watch showed that if he left now, he would be able to floo close enough to Notting Hill to make his visit on time.

"So is there anything else we need to talk about?"

"Just be careful, and don't do anything too rash. Rash is okay, since that's your nature….but just know where the line is."

"So no dead bodies in other words." He said this just to see the look on Kingsley's face, expecting a gentle rebuke.

"Just none where we, or any muggles, can see them."

That stopped Harry in his tracks again, but he decided not to say anything about it.

"Anyway, thanks for coming by. I'll let you know if anything happens."

"Hopefully our next conversation will be entirely social."

"Nothing wrong with hope."

They shook hands again, and Harry flooed off to London. Kingsley's minions came in now, and he directed them to put as many Surveillance Charms as they could on Harry's locker and the surrounding area. They left 10 minutes later, satisfied that they had done what they could.

Harry, determined to keep to doing what he wanted to do, still took Teddy to the park. He listened and watched for visitors, but enough of his focus was on his godson that he didn't hear anything. This would bear watching though, but he chose not to tell Andromeda about his Kingsley conversation.

He did tell Neville however, hoping that his friend would have either some insight, or perhaps even some more information. They were in a crowded fish and chips shop eating dinner, with a football highlights show playing loudly on the television. Not as private as Grimmauld Place, but the next best thing.

"Well I didn't know about any of that, we're going to be stuck in a classroom for the next couple of months at the very least."

"What would you do about it if you were me?"

That gave them both a moment of pause, as each realized how close Neville had come to actually being Harry, though without the Dursleys. They had only talked about it once, right after Voldemort's death.

"I would go on with my life for now, or at least get used to your new life and lifestyle. Get all that settled, while at the same time being a little more careful, and then start making plans. Whatever you do, don't confront Draco directly, assuming you can even find him."

"Why not?" Harry didn't want to anyway, but was interested in Neville's perspective.

"All it would do is tip him off, and it may be even that he doesn't know about it. It could be Lucius only."

"You defending Draco Malfoy, I still can't get used to it." He was laughing while he said it, so Neville didn't get offended.

"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that you should wait until you know something for sure. Remember, you attacking him and being wrong would look a lot worse than him attacking you. You have more to lose, so you need to be the more careful of the two of you."

"I get what you're saying."

Neville, seeing agreement, swiftly changed the subject.

"Oh yeah, I saw Ginny today."

"At The Ministry?"

"Yeah, I brought back the treacle tart dish over to Arthur's office during my lunch break, and the two of them were eating in there. No sign of Percy though."

Harry tried very hard to be non-committal, though it really wasn't that hard.

"How's she doing?"

"She's fine, looking pretty good too." Neville had long had a torch for Ginny, who had been his first ever date of course. Harry slyly replied:

"I'm sure she is."

Neville didn't rise to the bait though, though he paused to eat a couple of chips.

"Both of them asked if you were going to be visiting the shop anytime soon." WWW he meant.

"I'm not really in a pranking mood, and there's nobody but you to prank anyway. The disadvantage of living where we live." Harry had only made one, very brief visit to Diagon Alley since graduation, and even then only to go to Gringotts.

"I mentioned the pranking part, but I think they were talking about visiting Ron and George."

"I'll get over there eventually, I don't see the rush." And he didn't, though the main reason was that he didn't like being reminded that there was no Fred.

"Fair enough, I told them I would mention it to you."

"I'm glad you did, but I don't want them using you as a messenger all the time. That's not your job, and I'm sure it's not why you signed on to live in Grimmauld Place."

"Eh, I don't mind as long as it's not every day."

Harry then decided to have a little fun after his strange day.

"Go ahead and ask her out if you want to Neville, I won't mind."

That stopped the chip eating for a moment, though Harry to give Neville credit for not choking or coughing.

"Ask Ginny out?"

"Have we been talking about any other woman?"

"Yeah, I'm really going to bring your ex home with me. The house is big, but it's not that big."

"Well I don't have Listening Charms on your door like you do on mine."

"I haven't needed them for the last week."

"Here's hoping you won't need them period. I'll find someone in Knockturn to copy the pills, so I won't have to worry about pesky questions about renewing prescriptions."

"Just don't get addicted to them."

"I'm addicted to sleep Neville, I haven't felt this good in years. Anyway, don't change the subject, you're free to bring anyone home that you want. It's your house too, in practice if not in ownership."

Neville appreciated that, but threw a zinger at Harry:

"Will you be bringing Luna home? I haven't been out with Ginny in years, but you took Luna to meet Teddy."

"I won't rule it out, she's a wonderful person, and very entertaining to boot." Of course Harry had no idea if Luna had any feelings for him, she was rather hard to read.

That answer though, was not what Neville had been expecting to hear, he had just assumed…….

"Really? I mean you and Luna?"

"Like I said, I won't rule it out. She's one of my best friends and I know I can trust her."

Of course that description also fit Hermione, something that occurred to both of them almost simultaneously.

But that was left unsaid for the time being.

End Chapter


	3. Easing Into Things

Author's Note: Like in my past stories, I feel that life is too short to write Fleur a French accent, so let's pretend that a few years in Britain has smoothed out her English a bit.

Thursday, July 15, 1999

Gringotts Bank

12:30 pm

Harry, with Teddy's stroller shrunk in his front pocket and the young lad himself in a Baby Bjorn, approached the counter. He fished out his key, but the goblin already knew who he was.

"What can I do for you today Mr. Potter?" Said respectfully, as the goblin world had a rather high opinion of The Boy Who Lived.

"I would like to withdraw 150 galleons in coin, and 500 cash in muggle pounds please." For 'preferred customers' wanting smaller amounts, the goblins would eschew the trip down to the vaults and simply hand over the money and send someone down later in the day. The counter goblin gave Harry the money, which he put in his trusty old money bag, the one he had had since his first year at Hogwarts.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes actually, you can. I was hoping to see Bill or Fleur Weasley. Either would be fine, both would be perfect." Both of them worked in the building most of their workdays, though they had different jobs.

"Let me see if they're available." There was no line behind him, so Harry just stood there as the goblin sent someone to check. It took about three minutes or so, as the counter goblin examined Teddy a little from his perch, it was not everyday that a baby was brought into the bank.

Soon the other goblin returned.

"They are eating lunch in Mr. Weasley's office, they said to bring you up right away. If you'll follow me."

"Thank you." Said to both of the goblins. He followed the second one upstairs a couple of flights, and was pointed to an open door.

"Thanks again."

"Mr. Potter."

Harry walked in the door and saw Bill and Fleur on the couch, with what looked like Chinese food boxes on the small table in front of them. They shared the office, a perk they had recently been granted upon Bill's promotion.

"Hey there guys."

Both of them got up, and Harry resisted temptation to peer at Bill's scars, feeling that it was beyond hypocritical of him. Neither of them could really hug him, with Teddy strapped to his front, but Fleur gently did, kissing him on the cheek.

"Hello Harry, it is good to see you. Is this little Teddy?"

"Yes it is, Teddy, this is Fleur, and that's Bill." Both of them were now patting Teddy on the head like he was a puppy, but Teddy loved the attention and was gurgling happily.

"It's good to see you, what have you been up to?" Bill and Fleur had not been at the graduation party, having been in France with the Delacours at the time. Fleur pointed at their lunch in invitation, and a hungry Harry helped himself to a spring roll.

"Oh the usual, Quidditch practice, setting up and house and home……..well, not that usual I guess."

"How is it living with Neville? You guys getting along?" Bill could tell right away that Harry was sleeping, his eyes barely had a trace of red in them, and he suspected that his young friend was mortally sick of getting queried about it.

"It's very smooth so far, we're settling in fine." He was thinking of how to bring up why he was here, when Bill did the job for him.

"So what brings you by? Not that we're not glad to see you and all."

"I have a small problem, or what I hope will be just a small problem." He outlined the thrust of his Kingsley conversation from Monday, and his suspicions in general of anyone named Malfoy.

"So there you have it. What I was hoping to get from one or both of you are some lessons in Obliviation. And before you ask, if you were going to, I've come to you first, no one else knows that I want to learn it." The idea was one hatched during his five minute water break during Quidditch practice, though he was planning to get some money at the bank anyway.

This was not what Bill and Fleur had been expecting to hear, even upon hearing the Kingsley spiel. They looked at each other, and Bill replied.

"Well of course we'll teach it to you, I had to use it a lot in Egypt back in the day." He was actually kind of flattered that Harry would come to him like that. He knew that Harry was close to the three youngest Weasleys, but to Bill and Charlie he was still something of a mystery figure.

"Thanks, I would really appreciate any help that you can give me there. Just tell me when to show up at your cottage, or you're more than welcome at Grimmauld Place anytime you like, for that or any other reason." The latter was an offer he had not made to any other Weasley as of yet.

"Just do one thing for us in return."

Harry was praying that it would not involve the word 'Ginny', but had no choice but to say:

"Name it."

"Visit the shop, I heard that Dad and Ginny talked to Neville about it." Bill and Arthur were not what one could call close friends, their interests were too dissimilar for that, but they did have lunch once a week to talk about all things Weasley.

"Done." He reached out his hand immediately, and Bill shook it, as did Fleur next.

"You agreed to that awfully quickly, Bill should have asked for more I think." With that dazzling Fleur smile that Harry never really got tired of looking at.

"Actually I suckered you both."

"How so?"

"The shop was always going to be Teddy's and my next stop today." He grinned at them both in mock triumph.

"Introducing him around are you?"

"Only Ginny and Hermione left after today." Neville had met Teddy on the Boxing Day visit those months back.

"Hermione gets back on Sunday?"

"That's the plan, I was going to ask Ron how she's doing." Bill knew something Harry didn't about that, but wanted Ron to tell him. Instead he dropped a small semi-bomb.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to get on you about Ginny."

"Why I wasn't worried about that at all Bill." Said with a kind of ironic hopefulness.

"Uh huh." In truth Bill felt that Ginny was probably better off with a life mate without Harry's considerable psychological damage. He had never told anyone but Fleur this, but had, in a somewhat subtle fashion, started working on Arthur in this regard. He was rather floored to hear Harry's next statement though:

"She's better off without me Bill." Which was not why he had broken up with her, but he wanted to get Bill on his side if he could. Bill decided, for his part, to leave well enough alone, and changed the subject.

"Anyway, how about Saturday to start? Sometime in the afternoon, we both have to work here that morning."

"Sounds good to me, I'll be done with practice by noon. Why don't you two come over to the house around 4:00 or so, we'll make dinner afterward. I'll have told Neville about it by then." Neville would not be learning Obliviation for another nine months in his Auror training program, but might appreciate a head start.

"Sounds like a plan. Mind if I ask a question?"

"Shoot." At least he knew it wouldn't be about Ginny this time.

"Did you offer Ron a spot at Grimmauld Place?"

"Not in so many words I didn't, but he was there when Neville told me he was moving in, and could have done the same and I wouldn't have objected. I still wouldn't, if your mother becomes too much for him."

Both of them laughed at that last part, and Harry was pleased that the visit was going so well.

"Anyhow, I should let you two get back to work and all, and get over to the shop. Any message you'd like me to deliver for Ron or George?"

"No, just that we'll see them Sunday at The Burrow."

Harry decided to head something off at the pass.

"If you don't mind, I'd just as soon keep the Obliviation project between the three of us and Neville for the time being. I don't want to worry the others, nor tempt any of them to ask you for the same lessons, I'm sure you have a limited amount of free time."

Bill was in total agreement on that, though while he loved Ron and George, he didn't think either of them had the chops to learn memory modification.

"That's fine with me." They made arrangements on where to meet on Saturday, and Harry and Teddy were soon off to WWW. They could have used the floo system, it was safe even for someone as young as Teddy, but Harry wanted to walk around a bit. The shop was about five minutes from Gringotts, and Harry attracted quite a bit of attention from Diagon Alley passersby. This was due to his fame, the scar, and that he was toting a baby around, though by now Teddy was in his stroller. They arrived at the shop in good order, though Harry had stopped for a corn dog on the way at the new side stand. The bell on the door rang as he walked in, and hoping that nothing would explode on them, Harry walked in.

"Anybody home?' No other customers appeared to be present, though that was due to the fact that the Hogwarts letters had not yet gone out, with their attendant book lists.

Ron was in back, and had started to come up when he heard the bell.

"Hey there stranger. Or is it strangers?"

"Yuck, yuck. Meet Teddy."

Ron did the puppy patting thing, and turned to the inner door.

"George! Get up here!" Turning back to Harry and Teddy:

"How's Quidditch going?" Ron had not been drafted the professional league, which he took surprisingly well. He told everyone that the pressure of the games was just a little too much for him, so he would just be a fan and play pickup games whenever he could.

"Long, tiring, and kind of dull actually. But my manager, Clive, did deign to speak to me today, for the first time."

"What'd he say?"

"Hello Potter." It had been quite a moment for Harry, Oliver had told him that Clive had taken six weeks to speak directly to him.

Ron started chuckling, as George came up through the inner door.

"Not awed by The Boy Who Lived eh?" That was George, who had always treated Harry like a regular guy.

"I don't think he's awed by anyone really." Harry and George shook hands, and everyone caught each other up on things.

"So how's Hermione doing on holiday? You heard from her?" An innocuous question, or so Harry thought at the time.

Just then a couple of customers came into the shop, and Ron turned to them so suddenly that Harry almost missed the dark look that came across his face.

"Yeah, she's fine. Be right back."

Harry and George exchanged a look, and once Ron was out of earshot:

"Uh oh, why do I sense trouble?"

"Because you have a well honed sense of danger my young friend. There was a bit of a row in paradise a couple of Sundays back."

Harry flipped through his mental calendar.

"Oh boy, the graduation party day. Please tell me it had nothing to do with me."

"Well I can tell you that, but I'd be lying. Your little chat with her raised some hackles, though there were issues before that that were cropping up." George wouldn't admit this to anyone, but he had Listening Charms up on Ron's room in The Burrow, he found that Ron and Hermione arguing was better entertainment than he could get anywhere else.

"Oh my God."

"Oh he's not pissed at you really, more at her. He knows that you weren't an insomniac on purpose or anything."

"But Hermione is too concerned, is that it?"

"Well he feels that she doesn't pay enough attention to him, and what with her starting back at Hogwarts next week…….well you get the idea." Both of them were making sure that Ron wasn't able to hear this.

"So she left for Majorca after a fight, at least they have some time to cool down."

"Yeah, not so much. Ron went to Spain yesterday morning, to surprise her."

"What's wrong with that?" Indeed Harry thought it was kind of romantic.

"Beats me, but I guess Hermione wanted this one last vacation with her parents without any interference, or something like that. And yeah, I suppose a tiny part of him wondered if you were down there with her."

"Oh no, no, no."

"That's just my theory mind you, it's not like the guy confides in me. Ginny he confides in, yeah."

"How's she doing?"

"Great altogether, she loved the Muggle Affairs Office, and Dad has her doing a lot of different things during the day." Arthur was now Head of the Muggle Affairs Office.

"Glad to hear it. Now let's get back to Ron for a sec."

"I told you, he's not pissed at you per se."

"But he would rather that I not be a factor with Hermione."

"Something like that."

Just then Ron came back, and he was still the soul of friendliness to Harry, and made much of Teddy to boot. Soon young Lupin was being hauled around by Ron, being shown around the shop. Harry just watched this with the bemused air of someone who had been doing the same thing. George just shook his head.

"You guys are way too young to be goo-gooing over a little kid, cute as he is. Has he shown any Metamorph ability yet?"

"Not yet, but Andromeda says that his mom didn't either until she was about three years old, so there's plenty of time."

"I'm proud of you Harry."

This put Harry back on his heels a little, George wasn't one to say things like that.

"Proud of me? For what?"

"For doing what you're doing with Teddy."

"How could I not? I can't do to him what Remus and the others did to me."

"Well leaving aside that Andromeda is loads better than the Dursleys, did you ever confront Remus about it?"

"No I didn't, I guess I just kept putting it off and putting it off, until it was too late."

"I'm glad you didn't confront him, the poor guy had enough problems without you laying any guilt trips on him."

"I know, that's probably why I laid off."

"Any plans to visit your loving relatives?"

"The Dursleys?"

"They're the only blood you have left aren't they?"

"If I visit them it'll be to kill them, but I'm not quite that ruthless yet."

That was the answer George had been expecting, though he was hoping that time had left Harry a little more forgiving. He didn't blame his friend for hating the Dursleys really, but all in all George thought that hate of any stripe was best avoided.

"Well don't get any more ruthless if you don't mind. So any chance you can come out to dinner with us? Or do you have Teddy duty all night."

"No, I'm game if you guys are going out. I have to have Teddy back by 2:30 and Neville's got training all night, so I'm at loose ends."

"Good, be back here by 6:30 when we close the shop and we'll head out."

"Just the three of us?"

"No Ginny won't be there, don't worry."

"I have to get a word about Ginny from each of you, don't I? Bill mentioned it too." He had told them that he had visited Bill, but not why.

"Be prepared for Mum's onslaught next, and maybe Dad too. Percy you don't have to worry about."

"Yeah, because Percy and I have had five words to say to each other since he came back." Harry, not the most forgiving type since the end of the war, had noted Percy's lack of apology to him for trying to get Ron to forsake him.

"That surely helps." George duly noted that Harry ignored the shot about Arthur and Molly.

Harry was soon off, to bring Teddy back home and other various and sundry errands. He was still checking six every so often, but since he was unsure of whether the Malfoy hireling was hip to the fact that he was known about, it was tough to be sure of what he was doing. It was one of the few times in the last months that he was regretting not looking into the Auror training more than he had.

The dinner with Ron and George went off without any hitches, though it did help that the word 'Hermione' did not come up in the conversation. She was the elephant at the table though, even if she was lying on a beach in Spain at the time. The three of them did talk about Ginny for a time, even if Harry didn't bring up that he was trying to get Neville to ask her out. That would require some explanation, and be a bit awkward to boot.

Saturday, July 17, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

7:00 pm

The initial Obliviation exercise had gone off without a hitch, as Bill had Neville and Harry practice on each other, using very simple and basic memories that would not be missed too much if there were an 'accident'. It was a light lesson, with lots of stories by Bill of how he screwed things his up the first few times. Gringotts kept a small staff of Obliviators on the payroll, and Bill had enough clout in the bank now that he was already planning on dragooning one of them to finish the lessons once Harry and Neville were trained up enough.

Once they were in the kitchen making dinner, Bill asked a question he had been curious about for a couple of days.

"Okay Harry, let's say, for the sake of argument, that you actually catch your Malfoy follower……..what are you going to do to him?"

"I haven't the slightest idea."

That brought all three of the others up short, they had just assumed that Harry had some grand plan. Bill goggled at him:

"Eh?"

"I want to learn this first, then a few other tricks that I need to know. Once I have them down, once I have the skills I need, I'll plan accordingly."

Neville had something occur to him.

"In other words, you're waiting until Hermione comes back."

Not an unreasonable theory, since Hermione was usually the planner extraordinaire among the Trio. Not this time though.

"Nah, she'd just try to get me to press Kingsley to arrest the guy. No, I'm in no hurry really. Let's see what Lucius and his war losing brethren do first. I want them to make the first move, fire the first shot if you will. That way I can respond and look better to the public. I'm sick and tired of being on the wrong side of the public relations war, all it does is cause hassles." That went over pretty well, as all three were impressed that Harry was being so cautious, yet a planned kind of cautiousness.

Bill was then compelled to ask another question, one that he didn't much want to hear the answer to:

"What about the Order of the Phoenix? We could get that back up and running." It had been in mothballs since the end of the Voldemort business. Harry surprised him by his immediate response.

"It's something to think about Bill, but we should keep it small for now. Just us, and Ron and George and Luna for the time being. Maybe Hermione, we'll see about that." Harry had intimated to Ron and George that he had a Ministry tail, but had not gone into detail even when lightly pressed about it by George.

"Not Mum and Dad?"

"The last thing we need right now is your mother starting a worrying jag. I have enough grey hair on my head without that happening." Fleur turned her head so that her husband would see her laughing, and not wanting to encourage her, Bill hit on the second part of Harry's response.

"You should find a potion for that, or will the ladies like it?" Bill had no grey himself, but Harry and Neville both looked at Fleur after he said it. She pondered for a moment:

"Well, it is distinguished. Maybe it will go back to black now that you're sleeping again."

"Every time I try to mess with my hair, it just goes back to the way it was. I'm leaving it alone."

That started a mocking Harry competition between Bill and Neville, which lasted through the making of the grilled chicken and rice that they were having for dinner. Bill may not have been around Harry much over the years, but Ron had told the family enough stories that the Weasley scion had more than enough ammo for the job. They had such a good time during and after dinner that Harry was very, internally anyway, smugly patting himself on the back for involving Bill and Fleur in his new issues. Even if they came to nothing, he had solidified two really good friendships.

Sunday, July 18, 1999

Heathrow Airport

6:45 pm

The Granger family exited passport control and customs in good order, though the line had gone a little slow. The three of them, perhaps a little tired of each other after being in such close proximity for two weeks, weren't saying much, and almost didn't notice Harry waiting for them in the front area. He stepped toward their walking path and remarked:

"Wow Hermione, I don't know if I've ever seen you tan before."

That gave all three Grangers a start, but everyone started smiling now. She walked the couple of steps over to Harry and hugged him.

"Hey you, you know when I told you when we were coming back, it wasn't a hint for you to come meet us." She did look and sound very pleased though, and Harry immediately felt rather sorry for Ron, whose reception probably would have been much different.

"I needed to get out of the house, you can only read so many Sunday papers before you go stir crazy."

"And you didn't want to go to The Burrow." She said it with a grin, as she led Harry over to her parents.

"I'll go next week. Maybe."

"Mum, Dad, you remember Harry."

"Hello sir, ma'am."

The Dr.'s Granger shook his hand, and Harry grabbed Mrs. Granger's suitcase……only to find that it was rather light.

"Has someone been using magic around muggles Hermione?"

"Oh be quiet, I did it in the hotel room anyway, no one could see."

"It is rather convenient at times, though I drew the line at a portkey." Mrs. Granger was the more liberal of Hermione's parents when it came to magic 'helping' things, though Mr. Granger didn't mind an assist every once in awhile too.

"Good idea ma'am, a portkey from here to Spain probably would have made you pretty sick."

They were coming up to one of the entrances, and Harry looked at the line of taxi's, a few of which were the jumbo variety that could hold all four of them. Hermione seemed to try to anticipate what he was thinking.

"We ate on the flight, but why don't you come over for some dessert, we can catch up. I've loads of photos to show you." The Grangers lived in a nice area about a 20 minute taxi ride away.

"Sounds great." They all hopped in a cab, and despite some traffic delays, were in the Granger house a little while later. Hermione's parents excused themselves to unpack and such, to Harry's relief.

"So, now that we're alone."

Hermione got 'that look' on her face now, and Harry knew that this did not bode well. Her reply was very telling:

"Ron."

"I thought it best to bring him up when it was just the two of us."

"What did he say? Is he sulking?"

"Well strictly speaking, he didn't say a thing other than that you were fine."

That brought Hermione up short for a moment, though she quickly rallied.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well George told me of the difficulties, and while I did have dinner with the two of them on Thursday, we avoided mention of you. He doesn't know that I'm with you right now, in case you were wondering." The look on her face confirmed that she had been doing just that.

"So you went by the shop then."

"And the bank, Bill and Fleur and I are getting friendlier."

Hermione didn't know what to make of this, so she shifted track back to Ron.

"He said nothing, really?"

"Well when I asked how you were, assuming that some communication had gone back and forth, he said you were fine and then went to help a customer. That's it, then George filled me in. I hear there was a visit to Spain that did not go well?" He said this gingerly, hoping that she wouldn't turn any wrath on him. It worked apparently, as Hermione was focusing on Ron.

"I told him not to go down there, I wanted one more holiday with my parents without magic or anything of the like interfering. It's the last peace and quiet that I'll be getting until next July and I wanted to savor it a bit. I mean I never see Mum and Dad as it is, we've hardly gotten any quality time together in years!"

"Well I also hear that you had a row the day before you left, maybe he wanted to make up or something." Harry was on strange ground here, he had always preached non-interference when it came to the Ron/Hermione relationship. Playing peacemaker was new to him, and somewhat inconsistent, given that he had long resisted any such attempts by Hermione in regards to him and Ginny.

"Oh that was just him whining that I don't spend enough time with him and rot like that. I spend more with him than anyone else don't I? I mean do I have any friends besides the five of you? Not a lot of competition for him I have to say, God forbid that I want to read a book every once in awhile." This was said in a mini-ranting tone, and Harry had the sneaking suspicion that Hermione needed to let some things off her chest.

"If you need to rant, go ahead, that's what I'm here for."

Hermione needed no further invitation, and spent a solid ten minutes talking about Ron and his prejudices, behavior, and lack of intellectual curiosity. She didn't really raise her voice, and it was only ten minutes because she rarely paused for breath…….and because Ma and Pa Granger came back into the living room. They looked fascinated, which told Harry that his friend hadn't even unburdened herself to them yet.

She stopped when she noticed them, and had the grace to look a little sheepish.

"Do you feel better now, having gotten that all out?"

"I do Harry, thank you for listening. I needed that."

"Please tell me that there are no Listening Charms in this room at all."

"Oh I'm sure there aren't, Ron's never even been here." She did look curious now.

"All the same, perhaps we'd better check."

One of their key lessons in their last year of Defense Against the Dark Arts was checking for embedded Charms in a given room or area. It had taken over a month of the lessons, just before Christmas, but Harry and Hermione had both picked it up better than anyone in the class.

They did their scans and of course found nothing. Harry attempted to head her off.

"Hey, we only found nothing because I suggested a scan. If we had skipped it now and you'd done it later, you'd have found a dozen of them." Hermione's parents were chuckling again now, even their daughter had a wry smile on her face.

"You and your logic Harry, I mean really."

"Whatever works." He was just relieved that the Malfoys hadn't put anything in the room, though he resolved to do a more thorough search later if he got the chance.

Mr. Granger interrupted, he sensed that the two of them needed some privacy.

"I'm suddenly very hungry again, that airline food was not enough to fill a stomach. We'll go out and get something to bring home. Be back in a few." He grabbed his keys, and a taken by surprise wife, and exited the premises. Harry was a bit nonplussed.

"Gee, that was fast."

"I think they're still uncomfortable hearing me talk about Ron, or any guy that I might be interested in." Hermione hadn't looked at all surprised at the leaving.

"How did they handle Krum?" Harry knew that he should have asked about this kind of thing long ago, but fortunately she chose not to call him on it.

"I only vaguely mentioned him a few times during that year, I mean I needed money for a dress so I had to tell them about the Yule Ball, and that I had an escort. But they didn't really ask much about him and I volunteered even less."

"Well I'm always here to listen, you know that."

"I don't want to put you in the middle of anything though." She said this tentatively.

"You should know that I won't be in the middle." He said this very quietly, but was surprised when Hermione wiped her eyes.

"That means a lot to me, thank you." She wasn't about to talk him out it either.

"You've always been there for me Hermione, even when I was acting stupidly and rashly. Which was quite a lot." That elicited a smile, and no more tears.

"You've gotten better at that over the years."

"Everyone grows up."

"And you've always been there for me too, especially when no one else would."

"Well…….except for Crookshanks and Scabbers, but everyone was fooled there." They both started laughing.

"It all ended well at least, and Scabbers is no more."

"Speaking of ends, I have to ask: How did you leave it with Ron before you kicked him out of your hotel room?"

"I didn't really, I just told him to get out, and that we would talk tomorrow. I have another week before I have to report to Hogwarts, so there's plenty of time."

"So you two aren't broken up?" He figured that Ron would have at least mentioned this if it had happened, but you never knew with Ron sometimes.

"Not officially, though he may want to now for all I know."

"Would you prefer that he be the one to do it?"

Dead silence as Hermione pondered this for a moment.

"I don't want us to break up at all, but if he thinks I don't pay enough attention to him now, I can only imagine what he'll say once I start working. I mean teaching at Hogwarts is a full-time job, and then some. It's not managing some stupid joke shop, which he only got because his brother owns the place."

"Actually George says he's great with the customers." Harry didn't think this would help matters, but felt that he had to at least try to defend Ron.

"And I'm happy that he's found something to do with his life, even if it's a dead end."

"And Quidditch isn't a dead end job?" Harry was already getting tired of it, and it had only been a week.

"You had your pick of careers, and you still can. McGonagall would give you the Defense job in a heartbeat." The reply to that rocked her:

"Maybe next year, that's where she and I left things during our exit interview." The Headmaster/Headmistress always had an 'End of Hogwarts' interview with the graduates-to-be. Harry's had been the longest of the bunch, but he had never shared it's contents with anyone, including Hermione.

"Really? You might be coming there next year?" She sure sounded eager for him to embrace that possibility.

"It's not out of the question. I'm going to see how I like playing Quidditch for a living, and I'm going to see how you like teaching for a living. I might love playing full-time, though not so far……..and you might hate teaching full-time, and if you don't like doing it I'm sure I'd loathe it."

Hermione pondered that for a moment, and then asked:

"Do you think Ron and I should split?"

"I don't want to answer that, sorry, at least not with a yes or no. If you want my advice, and it seems you do, I'll tell you this: Give it a few more weeks. Let yourself get settled in there, and him settled in at WWW and see how your schedules mesh then. Then make plans." This was exactly what Neville had told him about the Malfoys, and he thought it was so sound that he ported it over for this. Hermione didn't think it sounded like Harry, and said so:

"Sounds very sage, like something Neville would say." She was giggling though.

"He's very wise, the perfect housemate. Now, onto more serious matters. How much longer do we have before your parents get back?"

Hermione checked her watch:

"Probably ten minutes at most, why?" It was a tiny bit in the back of her mind that Harry might try something here, but it was not to be.

"I want to tell you a bit about what's been going on over the last week or so. It involves your favorite Slytherin classmate."

"Draco?"

"The very man, I think things may be starting up again. And we need to be ready."

End Chapter


	4. Change Is Gonna Come

Sunday, July 19, 1999 continued

Granger residence, London

8:00 pm

"Ready for what Harry? Another war?" She sounded as if she didn't think that was very likely.

"I don't know, and that's what we have to worry about."

"What did the others say?"

"Well Neville, Bill, and Fleur are the only ones I've spoken to about it. Here's what I know."

He told her the Kingsley story, almost word for word, including his reactions and private thoughts at the time, as well as the Obliviation lessons. This was the third time he had told it, so Harry was getting pretty skilled at the recounting. He finished, and looked closely at her for a reaction.

She just closed her eyes and leaned back in her spot on the sofa, a very un-Hermione like pose in fact, but contemplative.

"I think you're right to get those lessons, that's my first thought. What other lessons are you planning on getting?"

"There's this muggle bookstore a few blocks over from the house, I was going to go over there tomorrow and get some stuff on self-defense and evasion tactics and such. If you're not doing anything after lunch…….."

"Of course I'll go with you, I'm always up for a trip to the bookstore." They heard the Granger automobile pull up outside, and knew that planning would have to wait until the next day.

"You know, I'm still surprised your parents haven't figured out what happened during our aborted seventh year."

"That was one of the favors I asked from The Ministry after it was all over, to make sure that they didn't realize what had happened. All they know is that they were on a teaching sabbatical in Oz, and that they had a great time there."

"Bloody amazing, I do love magic."

"I still can't believe that Gringotts forgave everybody for the break-in that year." That was the whopper that Hermione had trouble digesting.

"Bill told me that there was a huge debate about it in the goblin councils, but that they ultimately decided that the ends justified the means, and that Voldemort's demise was worth the hassle. I've been in there four times in the last year and they always treat me well."

"I'm sure you're on some kind of probation."

"I would think so, which is why I'm going to ask the goblins for help ahead time if something happens again. That whole thing was done kind of half-assed if you ask me."

"We were desperate you know."

"We were desperate too many times Hermione."

That was the last word for that, as Hermione's parents came in with, ironically, Chinese food. Harry had eaten dinner before going to Heathrow, but he still polished off his fair share of the food, and then some. Ma and Pa Granger relaxed around him in a way that Hermione would tell him the next day that they never did around Ron. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he and Hermione weren't sitting next to each other, or holding hands, but there was a definite rapport being built.

As they parted at the front door, Harry had one last piece of advice for his friend:

"Hermione, whatever happens tomorrow with Ron, just do me one favor:"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Don't do or say anything that can't be undone or unsaid. You run mental and verbal circles around Ron, and we all know it. But we also all know that nobody is capable of getting you angrier than he can. I just want you to be careful."

Harry Potter the voice of reason. Hermione mentally reflected that this was a first, but she wasn't going to argue the point. She simply smiled:

"Fair enough, and I appreciate it."

A brief hug later, and Harry Apparated back to a quiet corner less than a block from his house.

The bookstore trip the next day went very well too, done after Harry dropped Teddy back off with his grandmother. They spent two hours in the store, and Harry spent what seemed like a fortune, but was really only 225 pounds. On himself anyway, he also bought her a couple of books that she was eyeing. He wanted her in a good mood, not only because she was helping him, but because her next stop was WWW, and a talk with Ron, it had gotten postponed due to a busy morning at WWW.

As they were parting, her to go to the shop and Harry to do his grocery shopping:

"So pick me up at West Aberdeen and we'll head over to Hogwarts together. Our practice should be over by noon."

"Sounds good, I never really unpacked, so there's not much to do in the morning. I'll just be bringing more of my books and stuff back over there. Have you decided what to do about Kreacher?"

"I'll just see what he wants to do. If he would prefer to stay at Hogwarts, he's welcome to be there. I won't set him free, but it'll just be a long-term loan." Harry had broached the subject of freedom to Kreacher the previous Fall, and the house elf had something resembling a fit that took Harry, Ginny, and Hermione quite a while to calm down. Dobby he was not.

"It should be interesting either way. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, and try not to kill him if you don't mind, he's still my friend."

"We'll see Harry, we'll see."

They parted after those words, and a hug.

Tuesday, July 21, 1999

West Aberdeen Quidditch Field

Noon

Hermione had gotten there a bit early, and sat down in the stands to watch the last half hour of practice. Visitors were not usually permitted at Puddlemere practices, risk of professional espionage and all that, but after Harry explained to his manager that Hermione barely knew what the Quaffle was supposed to do, it was deemed to be alright. After the workout, Puddlemere manager/co-owner Clive Fitzgerald stopped Harry.

"Potter, I wanted to inform you that we released Malenkovsky from her contract this morning." Valentina Malenkovsky was the backup Seeker for the Ukrainian National Team, and Puddlemere's incumbent Seeker. She had been deeply unhappy at the drafting of Harry, but there was little she could do other than complain. She hadn't been at practice, but Harry hadn't really anticipated this as being the reason for it.

"Um, okay. What does this mean for the team?"

"It means that you'll head into the season as the starter, we'll have Porter or Davies back you up if need be." Bryan Porter and Roger Davies were starting Chasers.

"May I ask why she was released?"

"You may not, but I have full faith that you'll do a much better job than she did. Otherwise the decision would not have been made." Fitzgerald, in his mid-50's, was much taller and heavier than Harry, and the younger man was getting a crick in his neck from looking up at him.

"I won't let you down sir, I'll get every Snitch." One of Harry few personal conceits was that he knew that he could out fly just about anyone, or so he kept telling himself.

"I'm counting on that Harry. This is a key season for us, after last year's debacle. I need to know that everyone on the team is committed." It was the first time he had called Harry by his first name.

"I wouldn't waste your time or mine if I wasn't sir."

"Glad to hear it. Now get some rest, go see your friend up there. See you first thing tomorrow."

"Have a good day sir." Harry wasn't about to use Clive's first name without invitation, but he was pleased that the boss man seemed to be taking to him.

He walked up to the stands, only to find that Hermione was already on her way down. When she got there:

"What was that all about?"

"Well it seems that I'm the starting Seeker now, they just cut my competition."

That Harry would start was a foregone conclusion, a team didn't spend the number one overall pick in the draft on a probable reserve. But he hadn't figured on the decision to come so quickly, and leaving the team with just one Seeker.

"That's good, right?"

"I sure hope so. So what happened with Ron?"

"We had a very civil conversation, during which we agreed that it was best to terminate our romantic relationship." Hermione said this in a very stilted way, as if she had been rehearsing it.

Which she had, there was a reason she had gotten there early.

"Oh wow, I'm so sorry." Harry wanted to hug her, or comfort her somehow, but he wasn't sure where the line was, and wanted no part of crossing it. They were walking toward the changing area now.

"Thank you, I think it's for the best."

"I have to ask…………"

"I broke up with him, if you want to be technical about it, but he only made a half-hearted attempt to talk me out of it."

"Was there a straw that broke the camel's back?" Harry was praying with a fervor rarely known in his young life that he was not that straw.

"Not really, it was kind of a culmination of things. Maybe we rushed into things, I don't know."

"Rushed? You two danced around it for six years!" Not the right thing to say really.

"I said I don't know Harry!"

"Okay, I hear you." Said as soothingly as Harry was capable of, which wasn't much, but Hermione appreciated the attempt.

"Sorry." She sounded sincere.

"Well let me get showered up and all, and you can vent some more."

"You do smell a bit." She was finally smiling.

"Aren't you hilarious."

He was back out in 10 minutes, and they Apparated to Hogsmeade, their first visit there since graduation and the right to go there anytime they wanted to. Harry spent more time looking around than Hermione did, but it didn't take long for them both to agree that the thrill was gone.

"Maybe we need some more distance and time, who knows. You'll be coming back here all the time with your students."

"Perhaps, they rotate the teachers, so who knows."

The walk to the castle was a slow 20 minutes as Hermione explained what went on during her Ron visit, which itself took about 30.

"So yes, you did come up, but not as a rival or anything." Hermione wondered at the look that came over Harry's face after she said that, but put it away for now.

"Then as what? Are you and I too good a friends or something? That's what I don't get about all this."

"Well he figured that since we're out of Hogwarts, and your sleeping issues have more or less abated, then I wouldn't need to 'mother' you so much. That's how he put it."

"Oh for the love of God."

"That's what I said."

"What about Ginny?"

"What about her?"

"Did she come up at all?"

"Yes, a little bit." She left it off there, and Harry was aware that he was in a danger zone now.

But danger zones were where he lived most of the time anyway, so he pressed.

"And?"

"He was very curious, since you're sleeping and stable, as to why you were still avoiding The Burrow and Ginny."

"And since I told you why before you left for holiday, of course you answered him."

"Well I tried to hint my way out of it, I don't like the idea of lying to him you know. But basically I just punted it back onto you, I said he should have a talk with you about Ginny and get it all out into the open. This was fairly early on in the discussion, we hadn't broken up at that point."

"So that's all I want brought up for? Ginny and sleeping?"

"Pretty much, it wasn't a large part of the argument, if that's what you're asking."

"Well what I'm saying is, I have a visit to either the shop or The Burrow coming up, and it would be helpful to have as much foreknowledge as possible before I go."

"Well you've heard all of that part. One of us needs to get a pensieve or something if you want to know the whole thing."

"I have Dumbledore's pensieve at home somewhere, I'll dig it out."

"You never looked in it? I thought you were going to do that months ago?"

"Well I got hijacked to The Burrow for Christmas, and since graduation…….well I've just been busy reading and relaxing. Relaxing isn't easy for me you know, I need some practice at it." The last part said almost wistfully.

They were within sight of the castle now, but Hermione didn't care as she put her arm around his waist for a moment and squeezed.

"You and me both Harry."

"May I ask one more Ron question?"

"Just one? Go ahead."

"Are you two still friends?"

"Yes, we agreed that we would just go back to the way things were before the battle, though without the tension of waiting and all that."

"Okay, a follow-up: Did you mean it? I mean wanting to be friends?" He had long heard that the 'dumper', which Hermione was, always said 'let's be friends', but rarely ever meant it.

"Of course I did, I'm not going to throw away an eight year friendship for a relationship that was probably doomed from the start anyway."

Harry had always found Ron and Hermione to be a curious match, given their personality and intellectual differences, but he had always just assumed that love made someone do strange things. Or perhaps lust even. He was surprised to hear Hermione admit it though.

"Hindsight and all that."

"I suppose."

They were at that front door now, and to Harry's surprise Hermione just pulled on it and walked right in. They had walked in so as to discuss Ron, rather than flooing from Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. The two of them went right up to the faculty floor, which housed all of the offices and living quarters. Even Slughorn had moved upstairs now, Snape's old quarters were now used by the house-elves for storage. Speaking of house-elves, once they got to Hermione's new home:

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

Kreacher's entrances still made Harry jump a bit, but at least he was no longer drawing his wand in reflex.

"Ah, the young Master returns. What does Master want with Kreacher?" The words were a bit snide perhaps, but the tone of voice could conceivably be called respectful. As was his wont, he ignored Hermione.

"I want to know if you would like to come back to Grimmauld Place to live, permanently."

House elves were generally hard to read, and neither Hermione nor Harry could tell if Kreacher was surprised at this. The little fellow was quiet for a moment.

"Kreacher will do as Master commands."

"Um, well I'm commanding you to tell me which you would prefer Kreacher. You can remain here for as long as you like, or you can return to Grimmauld Place, where Neville Longbottom and I are living."

More Kreacher musing, though his mouth kept twitching. At least he wasn't muttering about mudbloods, he had been cured of that much in the limited time Harry had been around him.

"Kreacher wants to come home then, I will look after the house and tend to the young Master and his friend."

This was what Harry had thought would happen, so it didn't catch him by surprise. He figured on Kreacher being the solitary type, so being around all other elves probably wasn't the most fun way to spend his time.

"If that's what you want, then great. You can finish out the week here and come back home on Monday. How does that sound?" Harry always dealt with Kreacher much as a muggle bomb disposal expert would deal with a load of C-4: Very carefully.

"Kreacher will be ready to make breakfast for the Master and his friend on Monday morning."

"Glad to hear it, I'll inform the Headmistress that you'll be leaving here."

A look washed over Kreacher's face at the mention of McGonagall, but Harry decided to leave well enough alone for now.

"Yes Master."

"You can go back to work now, I'll see you on Monday."

CRACK!

Kreacher was not one for goodbyes. Hermione, while looking a little put out that the little elf had totally ignored her, nevertheless got to business and started unpacking her things. With Harry's help, it lasted about 10 minutes, non-book category, and she said she would do the rest later on.

"I'm still going to be in London until Friday, but I wanted to get this done now. Come along, they should be serving lunch now."

Harry was always agreeable for a meal, and the two of them joined Flitwick and a couple of others for sandwiches and soup in the faculty lounge. McGonagall was not there, she was at The Ministry doing something that Flitwick wasn't too clear on, but he promised to relay the Kreacher news to her when she got back. The faculty members, of which Hermione was the only new face, all treated Harry as an equal during the meal, inviting him to use first names from now on. Harry was a bit uncomfortable doing this, but reckoned that if he was to hang out here in the future, because of Hermione, then he would have to get used to it.

After lunch it was Hogwarts letters time, with attendant book and materials lists. Hermione looked so eager to get going on that, that Harry took his leave. He wanted to get started on his reading, and maybe get some sun.

"Are you sure about that? Someone as pale as you are should be careful."

"Gee thanks Hermione, but I bought some sunscreen at the grocer's on Sunday, I'll be fine."

"Are you going by the shop later?"

"I think I'd better, get it over with and all that."

"He'll be pissed that you heard it from me and not him."

That was more than likely true, but…………

"That's his problem Hermione, not mine. I meant what I said Sunday, I'm not going to be in the middle here."

"It would be better if you don't tell him that flat out."

"I'm not planning to, but you never know what'll happen. Heck, maybe he'll be great and it'll barely come up."

Neither of them thought that likely, but Hermione didn't call him on it.

"Well be careful, like you told me to be, and let me know if there any fireworks occurred."

"Gotcha. Have fun with your book lists."

"Don't get sunburned if you don't mind."

No hugs this time, but Harry was invited to the Granger house for Hermione's going away dinner on Thursday night. He wandered around Hogsmeade for a bit, spent some galleons at Honeydukes, but ultimately didn't get his sun or much book reading done. It wasn't laziness, or so he told himself, he was just relaxing. That was the nice thing about playing Quidditch for a living, Harry thought, even a hard day's practice still only took four hours out of the day, leaving the rest for fun and such.

It wasn't until 5:15 that he made it to WWW, only to find that while there were no customers in the store, Ron and George weren't alone.

"Hello Harry."

"Hey Ginny." Said in Harry's most casually friendly tone. This was the first time they had spoken since before graduation, no words having passed at the party at The Burrow.

"How's life?" Ginny was trying to be casual too, but did Harry's ears sense a note of slight hostility?

"Not bad, I'm flying a lot and otherwise taking it easy. How's The Ministry?"

"It's fine, it's looking more and more like I made the right decision to go into the Muggle Office rather than the Auror program." She still wasn't smiling though, so Harry made a point of widening his smile just a tad, there did seem to be some tension in the room.

"Glad to hear it, from what Neville says it's basically like another year at Hogwarts, with nothing but Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'd be fidgety all the time."

Ron and George were watching this by-play with some amusement, and Harry decided that getting it over with might be his best play here.

"So Ron, I was just at Hogwarts and talked with Hermione……." Hermione had told him that she had not filled Ron in on how much time she and Harry were spending together, so Harry felt free to leave out some details.

"You went up there to see her?" A neutral expression on his face, or so Harry thought.

"Well to see her and sort out Kreacher, he'll be back home with Neville and me next week."

Nobody else in the room could care less about a cranky house elf though, even George didn't like Kreacher.

"So she told you about what happened."

"She seems to be under the impression that you two are no longer a couple." Harry knew that Hermione would have killed him, not quickly, for putting it that way, but he thought that sugar coating things might be the best play here.

"That's because we're not." Still neutral, though George was now looking a little uncomfortable off to the side, and since Harry was studiously avoiding Ginny's gaze, he couldn't see that there was indeed some hostility on her face.

"I'm sorry mate, I really am. I was rooting for the two of you." Harry even sounded as if he believed it, whatever his audience thought. Ron was a little bit won over though.

"Thanks, it's for the best I guess." He didn't seem sad, per se, but he wasn't doing cartwheels either. It was clear that he, Ginny, and George had been talking about it before Harry got there.

Harry had now run out of things to say, he was expecting Ron's own version of a rant, but instead he was now in the uncomfortable position of seeming to have to interview Ron to get him to talk, and that really was not Harry's bag for the most part. But there was one thing he wanted to know more than anything, so he repeated one of his Hermione questions:

"But you two are still friends, right?"

Ginny, without a doubt the smartest Weasley in the building at the moment, seemed to lose her patience with all this tip-toeing around things.

"Oh for crying out loud Harry, I'm sure Hermione told you every little detail of what went on."

In Harry's mind that was rather beside the point, but while a tiny part of him relished the idea of a Ginny argument, he didn't want to widen the rift with Ron any more than it had to be.

"I know what Hermione told me, yes Ginny. But her point of view is just that: A point of view. I would like to know the point of view of my other best friend if it's not too much trouble for you to listen to." Said in a somewhat diplomatic tone of voice, or at least one that was sure friendlier than the one she had used. George was now openly smiling, while Ron at least did not look hostile. Harry turned to Ron.

"Ron? If I didn't care about what you thought, I wouldn't waste your time or mine by asking." That did the trick:

"We're still friends, yeah. Maybe things can go back to the way they were, we'll see. I mean we won't see each other much, Hogwarts is going to keep her hopping." Which was the opposite of what WWW was doing for Ron. So much of the business was done by mail order during the school year that Ron, even in summer time, didn't have much to do.

"We should pick out a Saturday before school starts and have a day in Hogsmeade, all seven of us." Harry came up with this on the spur of the moment, and hoped mightily that at least George would back him up.

And his one-eared friend delivered for him.

"Sounds like a plan, but aren't we going to be doing something for yours and Neville's birthdays?" Which were one day apart at the end of the month.

"I don't want to, if I'm to be perfectly honest, but I know your Mum will and I'll put up with it to make her happy."

"Why don't you want to?" That was Ginny.

"Turning 19 isn't a big deal really, and we just had a celebration a couple of weeks ago. Tell her that we'll have dinner at Grimmauld Place. Kreacher will be back by then, and he's a really good cook, Molly won't have to lift a finger." He saw George nodding, out of the corner of his eye, so he knew that Molly would get the message.

"On your birthday or Neville's?"

"Mine, but only because it's a Friday and Neville doesn't have to work that night, so we can all get together at night. Bill and Fleur are already onboard, and I'm sure Luna will be too."

Everyone was nodding, even Ginny, and now Harry really was out of things to talk about. Ginny was looking at him, with something of an expectant look on her face, but he was at a loss of what to do about it.

She wasn't though.

"If you two will excuse us, Harry and I need to talk for a moment."

Ron and George needed no further hint, and cleared out of the room pronto, George taking a moment to put the Closed sign up on the door. Once they were in the back room:

"So, I see that you're sleeping better. I actually see the white in your eyes."

"Yeah, being out of the castle helps, and I'm taking some muggle sleeping pills every night." He knew where this was heading, but couldn't think of a good way out of it. He could just up and leave of course, but that didn't really qualify as a 'good' way.

"Have you been seeing much of Hermione or Luna lately?"

"I didn't go to Spain Ginny, it never even occurred to me." A shot in the dusk, so to speak, but he could see that it scored a bulls-eye.

"It must be hard, being caught in the middle of those two." It appeared that Ginny could do some tip-toeing herself.

"Not the most pleasant place to be, no. And to answer your other question, Luna has hung out with Teddy and me a couple of times, during her lunch times."

"I'd like to meet Teddy, he seems to be pretty important to you."

"I'm due to see him on Thursday again, I'll bring him by you Dad's office and the four of us can have lunch." He had been planning on doing this eventually anyway, so it came easily to his thoughts.

"No Percy?" It was hard to tell from her tone of voice what she thought of this, though she got along with her older brother pretty well.

"I won't object if you or Arthur invite him, but I don't really like Percy."

"I'll see what Dad thinks of it. You should come to The Burrow more often, we all miss you."

"It's only been a few weeks, I want to get a little more settled at home."

"Does me being there make a difference?"

Harry had a decision to make here, but he chose to take advantage of the fact that Ginny had given him an opening.

"Yes Ginny, it does. Your parents want us back together, and since that's not going to happen, it'll only cause tension that doesn't need to be caused."

Ginny didn't look the least bit surprised to hear this, and Harry was dead grateful that no tears appeared to be imminent.

"So that's it then? We're through forever?"

"We broke up eight months ago, which is longer than the two combined times that we've been a couple at all. I'll always love you and care about you, but I just don't think it's a good idea that we be romantic. Or physical." He threw that last bit out, just in case.

"And what I want makes no difference?"

"It has to be unanimous, and it's not." Harry hated being forced to state the obvious here.

"Are you going after Hermione now? Fulfill The Daily Prophet predictions?" The paper, no true friend to Harry, had long speculated on a Harry/Hermione match.

"Hermione's been single for about 24 hours, I doubt she's ready to date anyone for the foreseeable future." That didn't answer the question, and nobody knew that better than Harry, who didn't want to say yes or no and trap himself for a future conversation. Ginny saw right through that.

"So you are then, figures."

This is where Harry's calm temper of the last few weeks temporarily deserted him.

"Oh come off it Ginny, those two were ill matched from the start and you know it, it was a miracle that they lasted 14 months! I had nothing conscious to do with breaking them up, and if I was an issue for Ron……..well it's still not my fault, and I won't be blamed by you, him, or anyone else." This was the most hostility he had ever shown Ginny, and she was equal to the task.

"I waited very patiently for you to sort out your issues, both times, yet once you get better, you blow me off for my brother's girlfriend!"

"I never asked you to wait, in fact I very clearly remember telling you to go ahead and see other people. Now I personally have little interest in dating at the moment, my last kiss was you back in December, but you have always had the freedom to do what you wanted. So don't play the helpless damsel waiting for her man to come to his senses."

"Oh right, you know why I didn't date? Because you were half a centimeter from the edge most of the time and I didn't want to push you off it!"

"That's nuts and you know it. It would have done nothing but help me to know that you were happy, and I know that me being like I was wasn't making you happy. I repeat, we broke up Ginny, and breaking up is breaking up. We could have said it was a time-out, but we didn't." Harry was feeling better with every word, though he was ready to go for his wand if he sensed an imminent snapping by his ex.

"So what is it then? I'm not good enough for you? I just don't understand you, you're more or less fine now, out of Hogwarts and doing what you supposedly love to do: Quidditch." She said this half plaintively, which was still something for her.

"I'm not going to write an academic paper describing how I feel or don't feel. I just don't think that we make sense as a couple any longer, and I don't want to keep revisiting it. It's not fair to you, not to me, and to everyone in our circle who has to watch it. I'm not after anyone else at the moment, and that includes Hermione or Luna. I just want to get used to my new life, spend time with my friends and godson, and hopefully catch a Snitch a week come mid-August. That's it for the time being and it's quite enough. Now I'm asking you the question: Can you live with that and us still be friends? I want your friendship Ginny, I really do, but I won't hold myself hostage." An incredibly long speech for Harry, and an eavesdropping Ron and George were behind the door being dumbstruck.

Ginny was rather rocked herself, at the vehemence of it all. Harry was kind of out of breath, but mentally thinking to himself: "Didn't we cover all this crap before?" Because in his own estimation, they had.

"I've been your friend for the eight months since we broke up, that will never change."

"I'm glad to hear that, and your friendship does mean a lot to me."

"Yours does to me too." Now she was beginning to soften a bit, as Harry was starting to think that maybe he had a future in diplomacy.

"I was hoping so. Now take off your widow's veil or whatever you think you've been wearing since December and start socializing. I swear I won't be a wanker to whomever you bring around." He said the last bit with a wry grin, and Ginny smiled as well. He just stopped short of bringing up Neville to her, but made a quick and quiet vow to turn the heat up on his housemate in that regard.

"I guess we should have said all this months ago."

"I really thought we already had, but better late than never I guess. I won't ask how Ron's doing about Hermione, since I'm sure he's got an Extendable Ear going right now." The last part said quite pointedly, but it showed that Harry had known all about it and hadn't done anything to stop it.

"I guess for form I should ask how Hermione's doing about it all."

"I have a feeling that she's going to throw herself into lesson plans and history books. I kind of feel sorry for the kids taking History of Magic, at least for the first month or so. Are you really so pissed at her?" Softening that Ginny had been, that was the wrong question to ask.

"Of course I am you moron, she dumped my brother!"

"Okay, okay." He didn't say calm down, but it was in the wind.

"Unlike you, I'm not in the middle here. Hermione is my friend to be sure, but Ron is my brother, that competition is not even close."

"Just don't Bat Bogey her next Friday at Grimmauld Place, that's all I ask." He had a feeling that Hermione wouldn't be putting up with any crap from Ginny either.

"No promises, but I'll clean up whatever mess I make. You can come out now guys!" It seemed that the private talk, such as it was, was concluded for now. Ron and George emerged, not at all sheepish as Harry just shook his head. He looked right at Ron:

"So are we still fine?"

"Of course we are." Ron just shrugged, he hadn't even minded the remarks that were about him, as he knew they were pretty much true.

Harry was amazed to be getting away with no carnage, but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Good, now I'd better be going. Ginny, I'll be by your Dad's office by 12:30 or so Thursday with Teddy, and Neville and I will have figured out our birthday plans by then too."

"Sounds good."

They said their goodbyes, and Harry beat as quick a retreat as he could without actually breaking into a run. As he walked over to The Leaky Cauldron, he passed by the offices for The Quibbler, but decided to fill Luna in another day.

As he got the magical gateway part of the pub, he saw two blond haired gentleman coming toward him. This being the closing time for many Diagon Alley businesses, the three of them were not alone, so Harry's wand did not, for now, make an appearance.

But everything did seem to stop, even the passers-by, as three of the most famous people in magical Great Britain came upon each other.

"Well if it isn't Harry Potter."

Harry wanted nothing more than to loose a pair of Killing Curses right now, witnesses be damned. But he choked down the bile that was rapidly building up in his throat, and managed to sound halfway polite.

"Lucius, Draco."

End Chapter


	5. Tensions Rise

Tuesday, July 21, continued

5:45 pm

Just outside The Leaky Cauldron, Magical Entrance

"Lucius, Draco." Harry still was not very good at hiding his emotions, even after all he had been through, but this was one of the times he could handle it. It helped that there was a large audience.

"How have you been, it's been way too long." This was Lucius at his snide best, and Harry, like Draco before him, had to admire the audacity of it.

"I'm fine thank you, yourself?" Harry was very consciously aping his foe's manner.

"Very well. I hear that you have been having difficulties since the battle, I hope they're now resolved?"

Harry surprised the onlookers by starting to laugh.

"Your concern for me is so touching."

"I have no trouble letting bygones be bygones." Not one of the bystanders could believe that, but Lucius was still smiling.

"Does that go for you too Draco? Is it all water under the bridge for you as well?" Harry now had the snide part pretty down, and Lucius' smile grew a little wider at the aping.

"You should worry about yourself Potter." Draco had wanted to tee off on Harry for over a year, and was rapidly calculating assault scenarios.

"Gee Draco, what about myself do I need to worry about? I mean, besides where the Snitch is."

"Beware of Bludgers, is all I was saying."

"Right, if you say so. Of course I don't need to beware of you and your hapless colleagues. Who lost the war." That last bit was said pointedly, and Draco rose to the bait.

"Yet here we are, and you only won because you got lucky." The excuse/lament of most war losers.

"I killed your boss, that's what happened, and a lot of my friends killed a lot more of your friends. You two are alive, so you're the lucky ones."

"Potter, I swear you're…….." Draco got those four words in before his father put a hand on his arm.

"Now now Draco, we don't need to dredge up old conflicts. Young Harry here has had enough strain in his life as it is."

"No Lucius, let him finish. I believe you were about to threaten my life in front of about a dozen witnesses. Right Draco?" Harry was now wondering what his Auror shadow was doing, or not doing. He was pretty sure he could take both Malfoys if it came to it, but was leery of betting his life on it.

"Whatever. You just watch, things are going to change around here Potter, change that will not be to your liking."

"I'm sure that's what VOLDEMORT said many times too. Before I killed him." He said his old foe's name very loudly and pointedly, and was amused to see that people still jumped/flinched/had spasms at the hearing of it. These people included both Lucius and Draco.

"As I said Potter, you got lucky. And you had Dumbledore helping you, you don't have him to hide behind anymore."

"Wasn't Dumbledore the guy you were supposed to kill Draco? And you couldn't actually, you know, do it? I mean really, you style yourself as some great Slytherin leader and fighter, but when push comes to shove………."

"Maybe push can come to shove now."

An ooooooohhhhhh went through the crowd, which had now swelled to about 20 people. But Harry had the perfect counter:

"I seem to recall agreeing to duel you once before, a few years back. I showed up but you didn't, you tattled on me to Filch, trying to get me in trouble. I believe it was only a few days after I'd gotten to Hogwarts, and I could barely use my wand. But you chickened out, like the coward you were. You're not still cowardly are you?" This was a favorite story among the DOM's and George, especially during the last year when Harry was always in need of some bucking up.

Now Lucius put his arm very quickly on his son's. This was going exactly how he wanted it to, but there was a danger of it becoming too much of a good thing.

"Now Harry, why do you provoke him? Is it not enough that your side won the war, must you gloat as well?" Lucius playing the injured party was a new experience for Harry and the crowd. He didn't get to respond though, as Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared.

"Is there a problem here?" Kingsley was a rather distinctive looking man even if The Daily Prophet hadn't plastered his photograph all over it's pages in the last year, so everyone got very quiet.

Except Harry.

"Not really Kingsley, just talking about old times. Right boys?" The crowd noted Harry's casual use of the Head Auror's first name.

"No wands were drawn Shacklebolt, no need for Ministry intervention." Lucius had a grudging respect for the Head Auror, but did not want to appear to be groveling.

"And what about you Draco Malfoy? No threats were made, no duels challenged?"

"Fortunately, for Potter's sake, there were not. Sir." That last bit was said a bit pointedly, as if to mean anything but respect.

Kingsley just looked at young Malfoy like he was deciding where to punch him. But instead he turned to the crowd of onlookers.

"Okay folks, the fun is over. Get back to whatever it was you were doing. Now." Kingsley's deep voice never truly needed to be raised to make his points, and now was no exception. Soon there were only the four of them left.

"Lucius, Draco. Be on your way." He expected an argument of some sort, but was immediately disabused of that assumption.

"Of course Shacklebolt, whatever you say. Be wary of young Harry's temper though, you arrived just in the nick of time to save him from some embarrassment."

Before Harry could respond, both Malfoys turned their backs on him and walked away. Harry couldn't see them both smiling broadly.

Kingsley sensed it though, and turned to his friend.

"So how close were you to killing them both?"

Harry just assumed that his Malfoy paid shadow was still around, so he decided to 'give the truth scope'.

"About a second away, at most. They were dead men if you hadn't arrived when you did."

"Then it's fortunate I was headed this way when I did."

"Yes it was. Do you have a few minutes to let me buy you a drink in the pub?"

"Sure, let's go." They, along with the ever present Auror flunkies, who were in fact Kingsley's security detail, walked into The Leaky Cauldron. Harry bought a round of butterbeers for the four of them, and put up a Silencing Bubble around them.

"So my shadow came and got you?"

"Yes she did, now how close were you really to tipping things off?"

"Oh c'mon, I'm not going to fire first with that many witnesses. Me firing first gives them the excuse to use Avada Kedavra on me, maybe, and while I can probably take the two of them, I'm not going to risk my life if I don't actually have to."

"So you've thought about this." Kingsley was relieved to hearing this, both the caution of Harry not kicking off the battle, and the fact that Harry seemed to have a plan.

"More than a little yeah. I don't have much to do you know, it helps to fill the hours."

"It's not too late in the term to get you into the Auror training program." He wasn't surprised to see Harry shaking his head before the sentence was halfway spoken.

"Not this year Kingsley, give me a year to play Quidditch and see if I like it. If I don't, then I'll choose between you and McGonagall, and I'll give you a meal-time with which to make your case."

"Sounds fair. Now what do you want to do about your Malfoy watcher?"

"First off, do you have a specific Auror or Aurors following me? Or is it just whomever you're pissed at?"

"We have a rotating group of four, each pulling an eight hour shift. I suppose I should say thank you for not trying to give them the slip."

"I have no problems with you keeping an eye on me, as long as you understand that I'm going to go wherever I want to go, whenever I want to go there. In other words, if your people don't try to stop me from doing something, I won't stop them from watching me do it."

"You rehearsed that didn't you?" He was chuckling.

"Kind of, did it come off too stilted?"

"No, just rehearsed, and I'm fine with your terms." As if he had a choice in the matter, one Harry owl to The Daily Prophet about him being followed by The Ministry would bring a fire-storm down on Kingsley and anyone else who had authorized it.

"Glad to hear it, now the reason I asked you if you had specific people always following me, is that I would like to meet them."

"Come again?" This was so not what Kingsley had been expecting to hear, though one of his flunkies had a smile on his face.

"Kingsley, if I'm going to make a move against any Malfoy retainer that's following me, it would be helpful to know that I've got the right person in my sights." The flunky's smile grew larger, apparently he had anticipated this.

Kingsley had not, however, and paused an abnormal length of time for someone usually so decisive, though Harry's query had been pure logic.

"I don't know about meeting them, I don't want you using The Boy Who Lived cache on them. But I will get you photos of them, there are four total, like I said before." Days off and all that.

"And when I'm home they're parked outside the house?"

"For the most part."

"Sounds good. Now I'd better get going, we don't want our guest to get too suspicious. Let's just hope he or she doesn't read lips."

They didn't, but would report to their bosses of the meeting, and that Harry and Kingsley seemed very chummy indeed.

Flashback to right after the incident:

Draco and his father walked toward Gringotts, where they had legitimate business to do anyway.

"You handled that very well Draco, I thought for a moment that the brat would actually draw his wand on us."

"I knew he wouldn't, not with so many witnesses. This time anyway, we may need to run into him a few more times, to get his temper worked up." Draco had carefully studied Harry during their last year together in Hogwarts, just in case something like this might come up. He was kicking himself now for not doing it years earlier, when Harry's behavior had been comparatively more 'normal'.

"I'm sure it won't be too difficult, he seems to have settled into a fairly predictable routine."

"Then all we need to do is figure out when and where to strike." Draco sounded eager when he said that, but not too eager, which pleased his father.

"As for when, let's let him settle into the routine a little more first, we have plenty of time, no need to do it right this minute."

"You have an idea of where though, right?"

"I do indeed, and it will ratchet up the pressure on our young friend quite nicely. But we need to wait for that, at least until September." He would not explain any more, since they were coming up on the bank, and who knew what Listening Charms the goblins had up, and where.

Thursday, July 23, 1999

Ministry of Magic, Muggle Affairs Office

12:45 pm

It was a very awkward gathering of our players, in that despite Harry's rather blunt statement to Ginny two days before, Percy was present.

In fairness to the 'odd' Weasley, he didn't much care for Harry either, even now after all of Harry's wild tales had been proven to be true. He still view our boy as an interloper in his family at best, and his rival for the affections of his parents at worst.

Still, they lunched on chicken salad sandwiches and pumpkin juice while everybody caught up on what various Weasleys and other DOM's were doing. Harry and Percy didn't directly address each other, but neither were rude or in any way confrontational. Indeed Percy didn't appear to be listening to anything Harry said until Arthur brought up the Tuesday incident:

"So Harry, what happened between you and the Malfoys the other day? I read about it in The Daily Prophet of course, but they seemed to leave a lot out." The Daily Prophet had heard a third hand account from one of the onlookers and ran with it. Harry still refused to pay any actual money for the paper, but there was always a copy lying around the locker room at work and he would skim it if he had to wait for a shower.

"Not really, they seemed to have the gist of it. No wands drawn, just some veiled threats and not veiled put downs."

"Are you worried about what they might be up to?"

Here Harry was at an unexpected crossroads, while he had assumed that the incident would be brought up every time he ran into a friend or acquaintance, he had not figured on being forced to perhaps lie to his favorite uncle, as he thought of Arthur.

So he temporized:

"I think the word 'worry' is not what I would use here, it's overused and misused too much anyway. I have an interest in what they're up to, somewhat."

"You mean in how it relates to you." Arthur was pretty sharp.

"Exactly. I told Neville the day he moved in: If the Malfoys leave me be, I'll do the same for them. But it seems that they won't, so I need to prick my ears up some." He was not going to mention the Malfoy or Ministry tails in Percy's presence. Speaking of Percy:

"What are you going to do to……how did you phrase it? Prick up your ears?" He might not like Harry, but he did find his issues to be interesting more often than not.

"I'm going to vary my routine a little, see Teddy on different days and all that. I'll get some portkeys made so that when I leave the house I don't have to actually walk out my front door. Nothing I can do about Quidditch for the most part, but I can tell Clive that I've heard rumors about other teams spying on us, so he'll tighten things up there." He had just thought of that.

"Aren't you guys the crappiest team in the league, why would they have to spy on you?" That was Ginny, though the dig was said with her trademark grin.

"Yeah, but I wasn't there for the crapfest now was I? He'll buy it, trust me." He believed that, but was mostly relieved that Ginny didn't seem to be bitter about things.

As the meal broke up, and Ginny and Percy returned to their jobs, Arthur laid a hand on Harry's arm to get him to stay.

"Now tell me what's really going on Harry, it must be more than you're saying in front of the others."

"It is, but I don't want to alarm anyone until I know more."

"Kingsley told me that he's having you shadowed."

Bingo, and now Harry was pissed.

"You know, I told him that I was fine with it, but I didn't know that he was broadcasting it to every person in The Ministry!"

Arthur was taken a little aback at the vehemence, and slightly offended.

"I am not 'every person in The Ministry' Harry. Like it or not, I am the elder male figure in your life and circle, and he wanted me to know."

Harry did not take this in the spirit it was being offered, though at the same time he was dying to know if Kingsley had shared the Malfoy information as well. But he didn't dare ask it straight out.

"Please tell me that you didn't tell Molly."

"She knows, but it's between us. Ron and the others only know if you've told them. I don't keep secrets from my wife Harry, you'll learn that when you're married, it's a slippery slope that I have little interest in going down."

"I'm having very vivid flashbacks to earlier times when things were kept from me that shouldn't have, and people knowing my business without my say so. Of course I trust you and Molly, and I would have told you that and more eventually, but………you tell him that I expect need-to-know to be very tight on this one, gnat's arse tight." He had learned need-to-know in one of his espionage books from his bookstore spree.

For his part, Arthur had rarely heard Harry sound so frustrated, so he swung the tack to something slightly different.

"So Ron and Ginny don't know?"

"Ron and George know some of what's going on, Ginny and Luna know little."

"And Hermione knows everything."

"Yes, and if you expect me to apologize for that, you're going to be waiting a long time." He was done having his minerals busted by any Weasley about Hermione. Besides, Neville knew everything too.

"I'm not going to get involved in that Harry, trust me."

Harry looked at the door, and around it, before coming back to Arthur.

"Tell me something, in all honesty: Did you think that they were a good match?" No need to specify who 'they' were.

The answer was immediate:

"Not on the surface, no, not in the least. There was always something deep down, but I thought you and she have that too."

"It's a long and committed friendship."

"Yes it is." Arthur had a well honed sense of danger too, and was willing to say no more or go no further. But Harry had other ideas, as some frustrations finally boiled over.

"Look here, she knows more than Ron and Ginny because she's smarter than they are, and arguably knows me better. Neville too, he spent seven years watching me from not so far and pretty much has me figured out."

"And Ron doesn't?"

And then Harry finally came out with it:

"Ron twice abandoned me when I needed him most. She didn't."

Arthur was only surprised that it had taken Harry this long to say it out loud, and he could tell that Harry hadn't done so as yet. Until now.

"I know, and Ron knows too. He still feels guilty about it to this day." He was hoping that this would have an impact on Harry, but it seemed only to make him harder.

"Then don't ask the question Arthur. I love all of you like family, except for Percy of course, but don't ask me to choose between you people and Hermione. Because you'll lose, every time." Said not quite as coldly as it reads, but it was still pretty chilly in the room right then.

"I would never ask you to choose like that, and you know it."

Harry believed him, and then got to his main point:

"But Ron and Ginny will, so if you really think of Hermione and I like family, you'll start working on them to forestall this. I'm not saying that they don't have a beef, to a point."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there's the way things ought to be, and the way they are. Thanks for lunch Arthur, I'll see you at the house next Friday." He held out his hand, and the older man shook it firmly. Harry collected Teddy and left a contemplative Weasley patriarch, who only later on realized that Harry had ducked the entire question of him and Hermione.

Which, of course, was Harry's plan all along.

His next stop was Hogwarts, and a session of filling in Hermione on all that had been happening in Weasley-land. None of them were invited to her parents' organized going away party in London, the collective Grangers feeling that some more time needed to pass by before the 'let's be friends' thing was actually attempted. Instead it was just the three Grangers, and Luna, Neville, and Harry. A convivial time was had by all, and a lot of Hogwarts reminiscing took place.

After the residents of Number 12 Grimmauld Place returned home, Neville had a question for his landlord.

"Was this a hint of things to come, us without the Weasleys?"

Harry's pause before answering wasn't too comforting for Neville.

"No, I don't think so. It'll just take everyone awhile to get used to the new way of things is all. Bill, Fleur, George, they're all fine, and they'll work on Ron and Ginny."

"How sure are you of that?"

"I'm not sure at all, it's not like I have anything in writing. But that's my feeling, and I know those people pretty well." A lot better than Neville, that's for sure, and Neville was gracious enough to admit as much.

"Is there going to be fallout when they find out?"

"About tonight? Who would tell them?"

"Well you never know what Luna might mention off-hand." Luna was still friends with Ginny, and was thought to have had a long-term crush on Ron, though she had never confirmed it in so many words. Actually, Luna avoided all talk of anyone she might be interested in, changing the subject each time to something totally different.

"I thought about that, and asked her not to. She understands." He hoped.

As long as someone does, Neville thought. But he didn't say it out loud.

Over the next week Harry managed to vary his routine sufficiently to confuse even the most talented spy, or so he thought. He had made another bookstore trip, this time in disguise, and was having some fun with all the tricks he was trying. He was spending more money on portkey travel than he ever thought he would, and was even thinking of signing up for some muggle driving lessons. He loved the idea of the Malfoy man and the Ministry people trying to follow him in a car.

Kreacher returned Monday morning, as promised, and after a few caustic comments on how Harry and Neville had been treating his old stomping grounds, got right to work. The cooking immediately improved, though the two young men hadn't been bad at it, but it turned out that Kreacher's chief talents were maximized in the kitchen. He also set about cleaning the house from top to bottom, though speed was not his hallmark. He took so few breaks that a lot got done during the day, and all Harry had to do now was the food shopping, which he insisted that he would continue with. Both of them were polite and friendly to the little elf, and things were soon humming along.

Friday, July 31, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

7:00 pm

The day Harry had not especially been looking forward to was here, the birthday party, plural. Neville's family was not one for celebrating anyone's birthday, so other than a few cash presents, they were pretty much ignoring this year as they had done for the previous 18. So there would be nothing but friends at the shindig, no family members for either of them. Harry had been slightly tempted to send an invitation to the Dursleys, but Neville talked him out of it.

There wouldn't be many presents either, as Harry had specified that the cost of admission would be no gifts. He even put it on the handmade invitations that he had sent out:

We are rich enough that we can buy pretty much anything we want, so please just grace us with your company, that's gift enough.

Neville too wasn't what one could call poor, the Longbottoms were riddled with enough trusts and such that he technically did not have to work, so he signed on to the invitation too.

As Grimmauld Place had a very limited floo connection network, everyone came via Arthur's office at The Ministry, as Ministry Department Heads had access to everyone on the floo network. Molly hadn't known this little detail, which was kind of a recent thing, as her husband didn't want her calling on Harry everyday, as he suspected she might. But after the light roasting Harry had given him at lunch the week before, Arthur decided to let it be the lad's problem.

The guest list included all of the Weasleys, Luna, Hermione, and Harry's new and old Quidditch teammates Oliver Wood and Katie Bell, who were a couple. This was as narrow as Harry felt he could get away with, and he was relieved when Percy had sent him a quick note saying that he would be unable to attend. The Boy Who Lived was not moved to tears. Charlie also was not there, one of his dragons was in the process of giving birth, though he had been planning to spend the weekend in England.

Despite this being a Weasley led operation, everyone was there on time. As 11 people tumbled out of the floo one by one, Harry and Neville were waiting for them with big smiles and hugs if appropriate. Neville made a point of holding his hug with Ginny a second longer than normal, to Harry's mental laughter, but his ex either didn't notice or didn't care. This was followed by Harry's own hug with Hermione, which was watched out of the corner of a lot of eyes, but was nothing to make Ron draw his wand. Indeed Ron was first out of the floo and Hermione next to last. Once everyone was inside:

"I guess we don't need to show most of you the house, but there are drinks and stuff set up in the living room, and we'll have dinner in about 20 minutes or so. Neville and I don't dare go into the kitchen, but the smells coming from in there are pretty good, so we think you'll be pleased. Thanks for coming."

Neville echoed this, as Harry grabbed the two newcomers to the place so that he could show them around.

"I'm glad you guys could make it." He was talking to Oliver and Katie, the former of whom answered him.

"We appreciate the invitation, but can you tell us what's going on with your other friends? I've seen blizzards more warm than that scene in the office."

Harry quickly turned to see if anyone was fighting, but Hermione and Luna were chatting with Neville, as the others were getting their drinks.

"Oh no, what happened?"

Oliver continued:

"Well Hermione and Ron were staring pretty hard at each other, and Ginny's hand was near her wand the entire time it was going on."

"Ron and Hermione broke up last week, and I was an issue apparently."

Katie was nodding sagely, as if she had expected this to happen.

"So how long are you going to give her?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean Katie." He knew exactly what she meant, and nobody knew it better than Miss Bell.

"Oh please Harry, you and she have been heading this way for years, you two are the only ones not to see it." Women's intuition indeed, but Harry stuck to his mantra of never directly addressing those rumors.

"I'm not saying you're right, I'm not saying you're wrong. Just don't say that where anyone with the last name of Weasley can hear you." He got a knowing look in response, and thankfully the subject was dropped. The tour took about 10 minutes of chitchatting, and as they got back to the living room, Harry stopped Oliver:

"Look, if it seems like it's getting out of hand in here, just start talking about the team and Quidditch. I'll hop right in with you and maybe it'll distract people."

"Of course Harry, I'm your man. But if you don't mind me asking, why invite this particular group of people if you expected trouble?"

"Mate, I didn't want this party at all, it's being guilt tripped on me by Molly. That said, this is my circle and I didn't want to offend anyone, I have enough problems without adding that to the list."

"Well let's hope that things will go smoothly." He didn't let Harry give a pessimistic reply to that and nudged him forward into the room, where they were the last ones to grab some juice.

Harry looked around, and it was as he feared: Lines being drawn. Hermione was still chatting with Neville and Luna, who despite whatever crushes they might have on Ginny and Ron, were still very sympathetic to their friend and didn't want her standing alone. He walked over to them, stopping at Neville's side, whispering to him.

"Go talk to her."

"In a minute, I was going to sit next to her when we started eating." Her was Ginny of course, who was catching up with Katie. Harry pulled Hermione and Luna over to Fleur and Bill and started a conversation going about Beauxbatons and what life was like there. In all the time he had spent with Fleur over the last couple of years, he hadn't heard much about her old school, and it did seem like a safe topic.

And it was, it lasted the 15 more minutes before Kreacher slouched into the room and announced that dinner was ready. Everyone trooped into the kitchen, and sure enough Neville squeezed in next to Ginny.

Kreacher, already a good cook, had been rifling through Harry's cookbooks, and had made Mexican food for the party. Anything there was without beans, which Neville was allergic to, was fair game, and the little elf created quite a spread. It was in dishes and platters all along the counter area, and people grabbed some plates and started helping themselves. While they were in line, Fleur made an aside to Harry.

"Are we doing those lessons on Sunday like we planned?" A bit too loudly, as Molly was passing by with her food.

"What lessons are you taking Harry? Something academic in nature?" Molly's voice wasn't really that quiet, and everyone turned to hear the answer, even those already in the know.

"Sort of, Fleur and I have been talking about her teaching me French. It would be useful to learn another language and since I have a ready-made tutor, I figured it might be worth a go." He said that so smoothly that even Luna and Hermione were nodding, and they knew what the lessons really meant.

"That sounds great Harry dear, at least someone in the family will be able to talk to Fleur and her family in their native language." Molly was long past her hostility toward her only daughter-in-law, and had even struck up a correspondence with Fleur's mother, who spoke and wrote perfect English.

The downside to this excuse had now hit both Harry and Fleur: She was going to have to teach him French now, and the Weasley by marriage was hoping beyond belief that he would pick it up as quickly as he was picking up Obliviation.

The meal went by without any drama, and as the main courses were winding down Kreacher brought out the cakes, one each for Harry and Neville. Luna led them all in a singing of Happy Birthday that was shocking in it's normalcy, and candles were blown out and wishes made.

Soon everyone made their way back into the living room, where Hermione took Harry aside.

"French lessons?"

"I had to say something didn't I?"

"You could just tell them you know, this could be the first meeting of the new Order."

"There's just too much tension around here now Hermione, I want things to settle down a bit more first." Hermione didn't disagree with that, not really, but had a logistical problem to address:

"When is this particular group of people going to be in the same room again anytime soon? Christmas at best, and maybe not even then."

"You're coming to The Burrow with me, you know you will."

"And just why do I know that?"

"Because you care about me too much to send me in there by myself." Neville's family did celebrate Christmas, so Harry wouldn't have him to lean on in five months time.

It got the laugh and smile that he was seeking.

"Touché, and of course I wouldn't let you go by yourself, assuming I'm welcome." That did raise a question didn't it?

"How have Molly and Arthur been with you?"

"The same I suppose, this is the first time I've seen them since it happened, so its hard to tell."

"Oliver mentioned some tension at the office."

"Well Ginny is hostile, and I doubt she's egging Ron on to forgive me."

"What have you done that needs forgiving?" He didn't think she had done anything, but clearly there was something amiss.

"Nobody ever said she was too reasonable, and since they all think that we're going to end up together, she sees it as her betrayal too, not just his."

And there is was, out in the open. Hermione had said it somewhat matter-of-factly, and had looked Harry right in the eye as well. Harry wasn't about to directly address this topic, even with Hermione. Not with this kind of peanut gallery in the room.

"Logic refutes that argument perfectly, she and I were split long before you and Ron were, it's not my fault she held onto her hopes like she did."

"She thought it was temporary, you and her. So did Ron and I for that matter."

"I didn't though, and I haven't been tempted since." He saw out of the corner of his eye that Ron and Ginny were talking, and looking at him. He and Hermione weren't making physical contact at all, let alone romantic contact, but he could still feel some Weasley hostility.

"Just wait until you start dating again, you think she's hostile now. Or is that why Neville's been cozying up to her?" She giggled at the face Harry made in response.

"Hey, he's had a thing for her for years, all I told him was that it wouldn't bother me if he went after her. I would never send Neville in as a distraction like that."

"I believe you."

"And when I start dating, or who, is no more her business than it is anyone else's in this room. The same goes for when you dip your toe back into the water." It was getting more direct with every sentence, but Hermione didn't like the audience composition either.

"We should probably talk about this more some other time you know. But we should talk about it."

"I agree, I'll bring Teddy up to Hogwarts on Monday and we'll do it then. He should get used to you, it'll be good for him."

"Monday sounds good." Her voice caught a little, but she recovered quickly enough. Harry's hands were behind his back, so any romantic gesture was not going to be of the hand holding variety. Nor were they standing particularly close to each other, just close enough to make the conversation private.

The conversation though, was about to come to a halt, as Harry came to a quick about-face.

"You were right about one thing though, maybe this is the time to let everyone know about something."

He turned to the rest of the group.

"May I have everyone's attention please!"

Said attention was duly given, and Ron and Ginny had suitably ill expressions on their faces, which Harry perversely enjoyed for about half a second.

"Since we're all here, I would like to tell you about some things that have been happening lately." He paused to take a sip of his juice, and then barreled on.

"I welcome you to this first meeting of The Order of the Phoenix."

End Chapter


	6. The Alliance Business

Author's Note: A reviewer correctly pointed out that dragons don't give birth, they lay eggs. Don't ask me why I didn't remember that, but I didn't remember that. Oh, I used so many plotlines for the DOM's in Brave New World that some of the situations and such can't help but be recycled a bit in small ways from time to time. You'll see what I'm talking about in Scene Two.

Friday, July 31, 1999 continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

8:30 pm

"I welcome you to this first meeting of The Order of the Phoenix."

He paused to see what the reaction was, and it was quite telling, and quite varied:

Oliver and Katie, though both had fought in The Battle of Hogwarts, were a bit confused, and didn't really try to hide it. They said nothing though, and seemed to be waiting for Harry to explain.

Molly's expression was one of consternation mixed with interest with a dash of pride thrown in for good measure. Arthur was smiling, he was probably the only one in the room who had fully expected something like this.

Ron and Ginny both had skeptical looks on their faces, as if Harry was doing this simply to take the focus off of himself and Hermione. Not an unreasonable assumption of course.

The others: George, Neville, Bill, and Fleur, were just look at Harry expectantly, waiting for the details.

"Now I can tell that some of you are thinking: Order of the Phoenix? What do we need that for? What's going on? Well here's what's going on: The Malfoys are starting up again. You all read about my little set-to with them last week, and then talked to me about it. What I didn't tell you, was that the Malfoys have been having me followed since graduation, and perhaps even before that during Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley trips." He did not know that last part for sure, but it would stand to reason.

He again paused for effect, and it was quite an effect as Ron starting cursing, verbal cursing, and Ginny's facial expression indicated that some things were slamming into place, logic-wise.

"Now are they just being wankers as always? Or is there a more sinister purpose behind it all? I honestly couldn't tell you, but I know one thing for sure: We didn't react the last time until it was too late, and way too many people died as a result. Now when I say 'we', I'm not really referring to those of us in this room, even Arthur and Molly were little more than functionaries to Dumbledore and Moody. The last leadership didn't take things seriously enough until it was too late, and I'm asking now that we reverse that."

If only McGonagall could have heard that, she would be challenging Harry to a duel at any second. But he had read the composition of the room correctly, and most everyone was nodding. Bill decided to see for himself how much thinking Harry had done, so he asked him the same question he had that day in the bank:

"So what's your plan?"

"Well the first part of it is right now, informing all of you. The second part is the lot of us deciding how proactive we should get, and to what end. The third part is the action itself, and whether or not we go on the offensive or play defense for a time. Now sure, this is my idea and my house and all, but I am not trying to set myself up as your leader. Any leader will emerge, or so I believe, rather than be appointed."

That was, of course, exactly what Lucius Malfoy had said at Borgin and Burkes that day. A striking parallel.

He paused again, wanting to let things sink in for some people, and he was also really hoping that someone would pick up the ball and run with it.

And Neville was that man.

"I'm with Harry all the way, we need to be proactive here, like he said."

Ginny had hesitated to fence with Harry in such a group setting, but was willing to query Neville.

"So what do you think we should do first?"

Neville turned back to Harry, feeling that this was his ball. Harry looked at the room.

"Good question. Now is there anyone who wants to be dealt out of things now? No harm no foul if you do, but please declare now if you don't mind."

The only ones he thought would take him up on it were Oliver and Katie, who he had invited merely because he liked them, rather than any anti-Dark fighting abilities they might have had. He didn't look at them specifically when he said it though, and whatever the pair of them might have been thinking, they were not saying anything out loud.

Nor was anyone else, as the room was quiet.

"Great, I'm glad that we're all on board. Now as far as I'm concerned, this is our group for the time being. McGonagall has enough to do at Hogwarts, as does Flitwick, and while I don't mind the idea of them knowing about us eventually, I would prefer that they concentrate on their jobs at hand. Anyone want to play devil's advocate?"

Molly made her first foray into the debate, as she and George both argued that McGonagall's position was too important to leave her out of the loop even a little bit. Both she and Flitwick had done so much to defend the castle during the battle that they deserved the option of deciding for themselves whether they had the extra time.

But they were the only ones who made that side of the debate, and when Harry put it to a vote, theirs and Arthur's were the only hands raised. Ginny waited until after the vote to bring up something she had just thought of.

"What about Hermione here? She has Hogwarts duties doesn't she?"

Hermione addressed this:

"I have fewer classes to teach than Flitwick does, since most sixth and seventh year students don't take my subject, and I'm not yet a Head of House, so fewer administrative duties as well." She was only surprised that Ginny hadn't challenged her about it earlier, but kept the irritation out of her voice. Ginny, for her part, had her question answered to her satisfaction and argued no further. Neville then turned to Arthur.

"What can you tell us about The Minister? How is he different from Fudge and Scrimgeour, and……well is he going to be a problem?" Arthur was the only one in the room who had ever spoken to Gawain Robards for more than five minutes, so by default he was the house expert on The Minister.

"I have breakfast with him every Wednesday, to discuss issues within my department and some that are Ministry wide. He's a decent fellow, more of an administrator than a fighter I would say. He rose at Auror Command through that side of things, he kept the books balanced and the trains running on time, as the muggles would say. And that's what he wants more than anything, things to run smoothly. So yes, he's more Fudge than Scrimgeour in that regard. He has no extravagant tastes from what I can gather, so the Malfoy money that's left won't do much to entice him. But at the same time, he looks to the future, not the past, so our collective service in the last war means less to him than it would to Kingsley if he were Minister." Kingsley was thought to be next in line, being Head Auror was the traditional stepping stone, even if Fudge had not gone that route.

"If we came to him right now with our concerns, what would he say?"

"He'd say prove them, which we can't. He knows that the Malfoys are likely tailing you, since Kingsley tells him everything to do with you and your situation, but he'll argue that it's not enough. To him you're Citizen Potter, not The Boy Who Lived Twice, so while he'll listen to you…….well, you get the idea."

Harry let that roll around a bit, before asking the next, obvious question:

"What will he do if we address things on our own?"

"He won't like it, to put it mildly. He wants people to follow the law, period. Now if one of them attacks you or something like that, then of course you have leave to respond. But again, that's within the law."

Ron had been listening to this with a growing sense of impatience, since the ideal solution was obvious to him.

"Harry, why don't you challenge each of them to a duel, kill them, and be done with it?" The path of least resistance, or so Ron believed. He was the only one to believe this, as it turned out.

Even Ginny looked incredulously at him for saying that, and Harry turned to Hermione, his eyes begging her not to take her ex to the verbal woodshed. Not that she took heed.

"Of course Ron, let's just start a killing spree and solve all of our issues that way! Harry, don't even challenge them to the duel, let's just all sneak over to their manor and slaughter the entire family! Of course we would have to torture them first, to see who their friends and associates are. You can be in charge of that."

Everyone understood that there was more than just routine disagreement involved with that diatribe, and Ron looked more than ready to give back both barrels when Molly hastily interrupted.

"Of course he wasn't suggesting murdering the Malfoys Hermione."

Ron looked at his mother as if that's exactly what he was suggesting, but he was smart enough to realize that he had no support in the room for this notion, and kept quiet. Harry decided to rescue Ron and change the subject.

"I liked the suggestion other than the killing part. A duel with Draco, not to the death, would be a nice way of humiliating him. If I won. But I'm not ready for something like that yet, I want some time to get my energy back up, and get used to it. I'm just now getting the full benefit from the sleep I've been getting, let's give it some more time."

This attitude surprised not a few people in the room, who were used to Harry just charging in. But Bill, Fleur, and Neville just sat there and smiled, while Hermione looked at him thoughtfully.

The rest of the meeting was spent talking about logistics, how often to meet was the big one. They agreed to every other Sunday night for the time being, that being the best night for Hermione, the one with the toughest work schedule. Puddlemere's games were on Sunday as well, but they were in the afternoon and everyone in the room was planning to be at them anyway, as players or spectators. Harry wanted no more meeting time than was necessary, as he wanted people to start thinking on their own about what could be done, which would help out immeasurably next time out.

The meeting sort of morphed gradually into social time again, and the new Order of things gave everyone some extra conversation topics as well. As Harry went into the kitchen to grab some more cake for himself and Hermione, he was followed in by Arthur and Molly.

"Harry dear, there is something we would like to ask of you." Molly was still treating Harry somewhat hesitantly, though by and large the old version of him was on the way back.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"We would like to include one more person in this new version of the Order."

And then it hit him who they were talking about, and Harry wanted to slap himself on the side of the head for not thinking about it an hour before.

"Percy."

"Yes. I know that you don't like him, or he you, but he can be trusted. And he is our son." Molly's plea was designed to tug at Harry's emotions, and it was doing a bang-up job too.

But……….

"I want to do this for you, I really do…….but he turned on us once before, what makes you think he wouldn't again?"

Arthur took over:

"He's learned his lesson from that time, he is more settled into his career and who he is as a person. He's changed Harry, just as you have, just as Ron has. He's still only 23 years old, he has had some growing up to do."

"You're betting all of our lives on that, you understand this, right?"

The two Weasley parents both relaxed immediately, as this meant that he was going to go along with it.

"We do, and we'll guarantee Percy."

"Fair enough, but I have one condition: Don't tell him anything before the next meeting, Just bring him with you, and hit him with it when he's in the house. That way we can all see his reaction, and I can decide if he is to stay trusted or not. Agreed?" And then he might have a live guinea pig for his new Obliviation skills.

Now they were really relaxed, if this was the only condition he was going to lay on them.

"Agreed."

"Terrific, I can't wait." He could though, but he suspected that they would tell Percy about everything anyway, so there was nothing to do but agree to their request.

"Thank you Harry." Molly couldn't resist temptation and hugged Harry, and he allowed it so as not to be rude, but it was still uncomfortable.

It was uncomfortable because he had a talk with Hermione coming up on Monday, and he was thinking/hoping that the result of the talk would not be to the liking of certain members of the Weasley family. So in his own mind, he was starting to distance himself from all of them save Bill and Fleur, just to be safe. The Order stuff was different though, he knew they could be counted on for that.

After everyone left that night, the two human residents of the house puttered around for a time, pretending to clean things up, though Kreacher the cranky would do the bulk of it in the morning.

"So did you get your Ginny time in?" Said in a friendly mocking way.

"I'm going to join them for lunch sometime next week, we just have to figure out the day." It had been Ginny's idea too, and Neville was looking quite pleased about it.

"Glad to hear it." Harry was pleased too, he might actually get some peace on that front.

"And you and Hermione?"

Neville gave such great advice that Harry was more than willing to be straight with him.

"To be decided Monday afternoon after practice."

"Any predictions?"

"Nope, I have no interest in jinxing anything, pun intended."

"What did Molly and Arthur want from you?"

"To talk about Percy being let in on things."

"And you agreed to that?" Now Neville was surprised.

"I'm not aware that I had a choice in the matter, but yeah. If they had put it to a vote it would have passed and I couldn't afford to let that happen."

"Because it would have made you look weak."

"Because it would have clearly defined Weasley vs. Everyone Else, and I can't be having that."

Neville did the math in his head,

"It would have been 7-6 for them if it had gone that way, and Percy coming will only up that ante you know."

"I'll figure something out."

"I thought you weren't trying to be the leader." Neville said this with a laugh, making it a joke.

"I don't want to APPEAR to be the leader, not if I can help it. But you, Hermione, and me will be the troika that leads here if I can help it. Maybe Bill too."

"I'm sure that will go over big once people figure it out."

"Well I'll try to be subtle about it."

"Tell me this: Did all the staring at you and Hermione force your hand tonight? I mean you weren't planning on doing this tonight, were you?" This young man was very sharp indeed.

"It sped up the timetable, let's put it that way." And that was all the answer Neville was going to get.

The next day, the first of August, the NEWT scores arrived for our players. Hermione got her perfect set of O results just as she thought, the only Hogwarts person in the jumbo class to do this. Harry somehow managed an O in Defense, but got A's in everything else. Not that he cared that much, any career he chose probably would have been Defense related anyway.

Neville also got an O in Defense, which solidified his place in Auror Training……and E or lower would have put him on probation. He also got his O in Herbology, the top score in the year to boot, and given his service in the war and relationship with McGonagall, it was considered a foregone conclusion that he was Sprout's heir apparent if he wanted to be, or even the next Defense hire if Harry chose not to go that route.

Ginny and Luna got better NEWT marks than on their OWL's two years previous, despite not having the make-up year that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had had. Luna only cared about making her father proud of her, not NEWT scores, and Ginny was just relieved to have beaten Ron.

Yes, Ron was the goat of the group, though Hermione had hectored him into spending as much time studying as he could. George, who skipped the tests entirely, had told him before the year started that there was a place in WWW for him if he wanted, and with the shop so successful, it rather took some of the urgency out of Ron's efforts. Still, the worst mark he got was a P and Ron considered himself more than satisfied with his efforts.

Monday, August 3, 1999

Hogwarts

1:30 pm

Harry and Teddy arrived a bit late, though they weren't planning on eating lunch there anyway. After the initial greetings:

"Sorry we're late, Andromeda and I had some scheduling things to talk about. She wants to go on holiday next week and asked me to take Teddy for that time." It had been a sudden thing, as a muggle friend had had an extra plane ticket.

"You and Neville, and Teddy. Didn't the muggles make a movie about that years ago?" The makers of Three Men and a Baby would have been very flattered.

"Don't forget Kreacher."

"Kreacher around Teddy? Really?" She sounded very dubious.

That was a good point, and the reason Harry had not invited Andromeda and Teddy to the birthday festivities was that he was still wary of Kreacher in that one small area.

"Well its not like he's going to be alone with him, I figure I'll just park him at The Burrow while I'm at practice." He had no doubt that Molly would love looking after Teddy for a few hours every morning, especially after Fleur had told him that grandchildren were not in Molly's near future.

Hermione had another idea though:

"Or you could leave him here, I just have a lot of paperwork to do for the most part."

That had occurred to Harry, but he hadn't wanted to bring it up, considering the talk they were likely about to have.

"Really? I mean that would be terrific if you're willing, it'll give the two of you a chance to bond."

Hermione was currently having her finger grabbed by Teddy, and was taking to him more with every passing moment.

"He does seem to like me."

Harry chose not to mention that Teddy loved everyone, as long as they gave him attention, and everyone did. But he was pleased that Hermione wanted to be such a part of Teddy's life, and it showed on his face.

"Well that takes care of that then, I have practice at 8:00 am, so I'll drop him by here at 7:45 and floo on over to the field, it's not that far." Some floo travel took longer than others, but Harry's workplace was less than 100 kilometers from Hogwarts.

"I'm always up by then, I'll make sure things are ready for him." She got no further, when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and McGonagall bustled in.

"Hello Hermione, Harry. I've just had some news."

McGonagall was not in the know about the new Order yet, though Harry now planned on mentioning it eventually…….and he thought eventually might have to be right now if she was about to hit him with something.

"What is it ma'am?" He was now wondering if Molly had blabbed something, but was quickly disabused of that notion.

"It's Minerva, Harry, and Madam Hooch has just tendered her resignation."

This was not at all what either of them had been expecting to hear.

"What happened?"

"Her daughter just gave birth to triplets, and since she now has five children they need another hand around the house, and Rolanda has volunteered." McG was not celebrating the three new lives as much as being vexed that it was at such an inconvenient time.

"What are you going to do about the Flying Instructor position?" That was Hermione, but she couldn't help but note that McGonagall was looking directly at Harry, and now remembered that she had mentioned Harry's visit at breakfast this morning.

"That's why I'm here right now of all times. Harry, I know that you wanted time before considering the Defense position, but the Flying Instructor position is much less of a time burden and can easily be fitted into your work schedule. I was hoping that you would think about it." She then noticed Teddy, and did the obligatory puppy-patting, and not at all awkwardly either.

Harry was totally caught off-guard here, this entire day was not going as he had thought it would. Still, he saw some immediate benefits to saying yes.

"Well sure, I guess. I mean I'll have to clear it with the Puddlemere people I would imagine." He couldn't see how Clive would object, but he didn't really know the man well enough to say for sure.

"I'll send an owl to your team, asking for their cooperation, Lenora Reynolds and I have known each other for years. I had always planned on rotating the refereeing of the games, so at most you would do one in October and one toward the end of the school year."

"Sounds fine."

"Excellent, welcome aboard, as they say. You can have quarters here at the castle if you like, but I would imagine you would want to stay at our old Headquarters."

Both Harry and Hermione couldn't help but think that it was the new Headquarters as well, but successfully managed not to look at each other.

"I would prefer that yes. I take it I would have meal privileges here though?"

"Of course." She then named Harry's stipend, which he really could care less about.

"That's fine, but I want one other thing."

"Which is?"

"I want meal privileges for Neville as well, I don't want him eating at home alone if he doesn't want to, if I'm going to be here a lot." There were a lot of different ways to read that request, and Minerva was savvy enough to see most of them. Still, she was relieved that Harry's request was so benign and easy to agree to. She was still standing, but made as if to leave.

"That would be fine, I'll have the necessary paperwork to you within the hour." She held out her hand, and Harry shook it, still somewhat in a daze.

"Thank you……Minerva." That would take some getting used to, as Hermione could attest.

"No, thank you Harry, I'll be back in a little while." She exited after another patting of Teddy, who was now doing something akin to giggling. Harry pulled his godson out of his carrier and started walking him around.

"Well that was unexpected."

"You agreed awfully quickly." She was smiling though.

"Well yeah, I mean how much time could it take really? I need something to do in the afternoons." Hooch, not one for extravagant tastes, had basically settled into semi-retirement in the years since she had taken the Flying Instructor gig, and had lived off her Holyhead Harpies pension and her Hogwarts stipend.

"You can't show Gryffindor bias though, you have to help the other Houses just as much, even Slytherin."

"Hey, Hooch could give detentions couldn't she? I should have asked about that."

Hermione was very fond of Harry's new approach to life, but in that last statement she could have sworn she heard Ron, and it showed on her face.

"Oh c'mon Hermione, I won't abuse it, you know me better than that." He started laughing, and Teddy giggled again, both of which mollified Hermione, no pun intended.

"If you say so."

"I do, now we were about to agree that I'll bring Teddy over a week from today at 7:45 am for your babysitting duty."

"Yes we were, and that's when you come by."

Now there was some silence going on, as Harry's last statement was more of a placeholder than anything. It was time to talk about the real reason for this conversation. Hermione started fidgeting a bit, and took Teddy from Harry.

"Now all that's left to do is figure out what's going on between us."

Harry was beyond relieved that she had been the one to bring it up.

"I think we can both acknowledge that something IS going on."

"Yes it certainly is, otherwise one of us would have said no to this visit. Since I'm the supposed leader of the three of us, I guess I should ask: Do you have feelings for me?" Hermione, with as much effort as she had ever expended in life, kept her voice calm when asking that. She didn't have to wait long for the reply.

"Yep."

She usually admired Harry's brevity, but now was an exception.

"Romantic feelings?" At least she didn't sound cross.

Harry was now a bit lost, as he had thought that quickly answering yes would have pleased her. So he re-jiggered it.

"I love you, yes."

Now that too could be taken a couple of different ways, since they had been friends for so long that of course platonic love was there in large quantities. But thankfully Hermione took it the way it was intended, to Harry's great relief.

"I love you too."

Teddy was still in her arms, so that was a barrier to Harry being in them, but at least they were both smiling now. She found her voice first.

"We haven't been on a date and we're saying I love you's already."

"Since when did we ever do things the normal way?"

"It's been awhile, yes. It's not like we don't know each other chapter and verse anyway. When did you realize that you love me?" Now there was a slight catch in her voice, but she was looking at him with changed eyes now.

"I've loved you for years, but I guess I realized that I'm 'in love' with you……..well it was the day after I died." They shared a look of remembrance.

The day and night he killed Tom Riddle wound up being a sleepless one for Harry due to so many things happening and decisions needing to be made. The next afternoon was when he tried to take a catnap, not aware of the problems he was going to have sleeping for the next year. He was in the Gryffindor Common Room, slumped in an easy chair, Hermione next to him doing what she always did: reading a book.

Harry managed ten minutes of sleep before his screams woke up half the castle. No one under Crucio, as Hermione had been, could ever mistake those screams for anything else, and Harry was very vividly reliving it, in a constant loop that he couldn't turn off. Or wouldn't turn off, as he later tried to explain to Hermione:

"At least when I was in pain, I knew I was alive."

That afternoon, though, he couldn't really articulate that reason with any clarity, and Ron and Neville, among many others, rushed into the Common Room to find Hermione cradling a sobbing/somewhat crazed looking Harry in her arms, whispering that everything was okay, that all was alive and well.

Of course only the alive part was actually true.

But after what seemed like an eternity to Hermione and the onlookers, Harry calmed down long enough to get him down to the Infirmary for what was to be many months of Pomfrey experiments on Sleeping Draughts.

Back to present:

"When I was holding you?"

"I looked into your eyes and just knew. I knew that I want to spend my life with you." He had more to say, but gave her some time to let that sink in.

"Wow, I never realized." There was a smile playing on her face, and Harry was relieved that his answer, totally true mind you, had gone over so well. He continued:

"I tried to make a go of it with Ginny, but the combination of you and not sleeping and all…….well eventually I gave up."

"Neville told me sometimes that your nightmares included me." Not trusting Ron as an honest broker there, Hermione had always gone to Neville for answers to Harry related questions.

"It was always something happening to you, like in the Malfoy house." If Harry were to be questioned about that even remotely competently, he would reveal that his rank hatred of all things Malfoy was hardened into stone from that day.

"I still think about that sometimes, it's hard to put it completely away."

"When did you realize that you love me?"

Here Hermione paused a bit, and put Teddy down. She sat next to Harry on the settee, and took his hand in hers.

"Well like you, it's been years of love, or at least once I realized what love was……..but I guess I just figured……."

"You resisted The Boy Who Lived aura."

"Well that might have been a small part of it, not wanting to give in to what people expected would happen. I mean, not that you ever played that up or anything, you always seemed to hate that tag."

"I did, and you were the only one who never truly cared about it one way or the other."

"I didn't, not after seeing that you didn't care for it. And of course there was the big factor:"

"Ron."

"Was he a reason you never tried anything before the battle?"

"Hermione, I never thought that you and Ron made sense, not really. But he had his feelings for you, and you for so long didn't appear to even like boys……..err, romantically I mean."

"Nice save."

"Thanks. Well what I mean is, he had his heart set on you, and I don't know if I consciously decided to leave you alone because of that……..I mean, could I take that away from him too? He grew up with so little, and he resented me so much for my fame and money anyway. It was very weird at times."

"Harry, do you remember just now when I smiled and said that I never realized?"

"Sure."

"That's when I fell in love with you, that moment in the Common Room. I was holding you and it just felt so natural. It's supposed to be the other way I know, the man holding the woman, but I kind of melted. You didn't notice because you were trying not to go crazy, but there's where it happened."

"So you and Ron………." This moment had been just one day after the Hermione/Ron snog that had been years in the making.

"It was just waiting I guess. I never told him that I loved him, or let him go any further than snogging, and he wanted lots of both. I wasn't waiting for you, per se, but I was hoping that once you left the castle and had some peace……."

"Which I now have, thanks to you, and Teddy……and drugs." The sleeping pills, and while that might be considered a mood breaker by some, Hermione just started laughing.

"Perhaps you won't need the pills much longer." She had made it her business to know something about sleep disorders and the muggle and magical elixirs that were supposed to solve them.

"I just take one every night, with some hot milk right before bed. I get at least five hours now before the first storm hits." The nightmares.

"Are they any better?"

"A little bit, they're not as frequent, but just as powerful."

"At least there's progress, that's a positive."

"Yes it is. Our talk in your parents' house, did that spur you to break up with Ron?"

"Yes it did, but I didn't want it to seem like I was grabbing on to one branch before letting go of the first."

"Ron will figure on that, so will Ginny and their parents."

"What do you want to do about that?"

Harry pondered for a moment, squeezing her hand.

"I love you Hermione, I want us to be together."

Hermione, expecting a plan of action from the newly organized Harry, was taken aback in the very best way possible.

"I love you too, and that sounds wonderful."

She leaned her head towards his and he took the hint. Their lips brushed up against each other for the first time and lingered for a few seconds, before Harry pulled back.

"Yes it does, my girlfriend Hermione. Has a perfect ring to it."

"I couldn't agree more." She was beaming now, looking happier than Harry had ever seen her with Ron……..though he was beyond biased.

"Now you asked what we do about it………we don't do anything. We live our lives, go about our jobs, and be together. If they ask, I won't lie to them, but Ron and Ginny are just going to have to get used to it. They need to grow up."

Hermione again was in agreement, more agreement that she had with Ron in any single day this entire calendar year.

"And the others?"

"Well from what I gather they all assume that you and I are a done deal anyway."

"We haven't really been to subtle about it." She squeezed his hand harder.

"Katie asked me this morning if today was the day, so you're probably right."

"What did you tell her?"

"I said 'we'll see', which is what I say to Neville all the time too when he gives me the business about it." And he did, a lot, Neville knew why Harry was pointing him toward Ginny.

"When shall we tell my parents?"

"Whenever you want, just tell me what night to show up and I'll take my grilling like a man."

The perfect answer, or so Hermione thought again. Either Harry was naturally good at this, or Neville and Katie had prepared him nicely. Either way was fine with her.

"I know everyone thought that I ran Ron and me…….."

Harry couldn't resist interrupting.

"Which was true."

Smacking him would have been awkward using her far hand, so instead she just dug her nails a bit into the hand that she was holding.

"Be that as it may, I know that you're much different than he is, now, and I wouldn't try to do that with you. And if I do, subconsciously, try, I expect you to call me on it."

"Yes dear, whatever you say."

There was a moment of silence, before they both broke up laughing. Harry was quite happy that something this huge in his life was going so swimmingly. He disengaged his hand and put that arm around her shoulders, and she immediately leaned in and put her arm around his waist. He mused out loud:

"This is very comfortable you know." He kissed the top of her head, and felt her arm tighten around him, her other hand snaking around to grab his free one.

"A perfect fit I'd say."

End Chapter


	7. Revelation

Author's Note: It was brought to my attention in a review that I've been treating Teddy, a 15 month old, like someone much younger and smaller than he is. Many apologies for that, I have no children of my own and a lot of my Teddy stuff will be guessing. I'll do it correctly from now on.

Monday, August 3, 1999 continued:

History of Magic Office, Hogwarts

1:45 pm

Harry and Hermione snuggled for a few more minutes before there was a knock on the door. They quickly disengaged and Hermione yelled for whomever it was to come in, assuming it was McGonagall.

And she assumed correctly, as the Headmistress bustled in with some papers. Both Harry and Hermione were rather thankful that Hermione didn't usually wear any lipstick, or there would be some evidence of their new relationship.

"Well here we are, your hiring papers Harry. I took the liberty of floo calling your team owner, and he was happy to accommodate us in this matter."

"You talked to Clive?" This was fast action on her part.

"For a few minutes yes, he and his wife are generous contributors to Hogwarts, he had no issue with your taking the position. He said to tell you that he'll see you tomorrow morning for practice."

Well that was good, both Harry and Hermione thought, still with a glow over the new way of things.

A glow that was very visible, McGonagall may have been single but she wasn't stupid, and could tell that a new relationship had just been born. She didn't care so much really, but all in all preferred her faculty to be happy.

Harry now had some free time, as he was about to suggest that he go over to Clive's office and seal the deal. So he decided to visit another office. Once the papers were filled out and signed:

"If you ladies will excuse me, I want to talk to Kingsley for a minute, I'll be right back." The women nodded, already talking about something else, and Harry threw some floo powder into the fireplace:

"Kingsley Shacklebolt!"

A few seconds later the man himself appeared.

"Well hello Harry, what can I do for you?"

"I'd like to come over for a minute, if you can fit me in."

"Sure, hop in, I just finished up a meeting."

Harry did so, and was soon sitting in a comfy chair across from the Head Auror. After the usual pleasantries:

"I was just named Flying Instructor at Hogwarts, and I wanted to let you know."

Not what Kingsley was expecting to hear.

"Hooch quit, really?"

"Something about her daughter popping out triplets and needing a cheap nanny, I didn't get many details."

"Well, well, very interesting."

"It's a change, that's for certain."

"Well thanks for the heads up, but why are you really here?" He knew that Harry didn't have an owl anymore, but still assumed something more important was afoot here.

"Is my surveillance continued while I'm in Hogwarts castle?" This was the real reason Harry was in this office.

"No it isn't, we have an agreement with McGonagall that we don't enter there without her permission, and Hogwarts is very secure anyway, especially in the summer time."

"Glad to hear it, now it would stand to reason that my Malfoy tail doesn't come inside either, right?"

"One would assume, yes." He wasn't about to guarantee anything here, not with Harry.

"Even better. Now I'm going to share something with you, something that just happened."

"I'm all ears."

"Hermione Granger and I are now a couple."

Kingsley didn't really know what to say to this, he was not expecting personal gossip from his young friend.

"Congratulations." For lack of anything better to say.

"Thank you. Now you must be wondering why I shared that with you."

"It crossed my mind, yes."

"Arthur told me that you informed him of my Ministry watchers. Now I resisted sending you multiple Howlers about violating my privacy, but I want to make clear now that you are NOT to share details about my personal life with ANYONE without my prior consent, consent that will never be given." Harry's voice got harder and more hostile with every word.

"Or else what?" Kingsley couldn't resist the question, though he understood Harry to be in the right.

"Or else I will take appropriate measures to keep my privacy." The perfect vague answer, he was learning fast.

"Fair enough, I was under the impression that you and Arthur are close, that's why I mentioned it to him." He appreciated that Harry wasn't going ballistic in front of anyone, even the security detail was outside the office.

"As long as that's all you mention. I want my privacy, and certain of his spawn aren't going to like the new way of things in my house. If he's any kind of father he'll choose them over us, so things are likely to be tetchy in the coming weeks. I don't suppose I blame you for telling him about the surveillance, it was my fault for not asking you to keep it between us." He didn't really believe that last part, but felt that he was treading on thin ice here somewhat.

"Mum's the word to Arthur, but you realize that he'll find out the moment you and Hermione are out in public together."

"Just so that he doesn't find out from you, that's all I'm asking here."

"That's all you're telling, you don't seem to be asking." If ever Kingsley was going to be snotty with Harry it was here, but his voice was calm and cool as it always was.

"No, I'm not asking, you're right. But I've been very accommodating so far, and it's not like I'm saying that you should do something, I'm just saying that you shouldn't. Big difference." A bit convoluted, but the message was received.

"I'm not unsympathetic to your problem, don't worry. Just don't put Ron into St. Mungo's for too long when he attacks you, wouldn't look cricket."

"Ron's not the brightest bulb in the package, but he's not stupid either. If he somehow got past me, Hermione would turn him inside out, and he knows it."

They shared a laugh at that thought, and a couple minutes later Harry was back in his squeeze's office, where he explained to a now alone Hermione what he had been up to. She had a concern:

"Maybe we should just tell them flat out and be done with it. I mean they do deserve to hear it from us."

"Yes they do, but it's nothing that has to be decided today. I mean I'll tell Neville and all, and Katie will worm it out of me tomorrow."

"She knows you better than I ever thought." Katie and Hermione had chatted some at the party.

"Well we were teammates for years, we spent a lot of time together." Purely as friends, as Katie had looooong held a torch for her then-Captain Oliver Wood.

This was Teddy's first real trip to Hogwarts, so Hermione and Harry took him around for awhile, fortunately avoiding Peeves, since you never knew what he might do around a toddler, and Filch, whom Harry was itching to do something nasty to for general purposes.

Harry left around 4:00 pm, with a promise to come back later for dinner, and reported to Andromeda that Teddy would be well looked after while he was at Quidditch practice. He told her who would be babysitting, though not about the relationship, and Andromeda thought nothing more of it, trusting Harry completely with the safety and well being of her grandson.

Neville just smirked at Harry that night, upon hearing the news, and wished him well. He had had his Ginny lunch that afternoon, and thought that there was progress being made on that front. He was now debating on whether to ask Ron for help with Ginny, or at least George. He was still pondering at week's end, after another lunch.

Arthur had been hoping that the Thursday lunch of the last two weeks would become a routine thing for himself, Ginny, Percy, and Harry, but our boy did not want to face the inevitable questions that would come soon enough, and begged off. Harry just didn't feel comfortable with the idea of ducking questions, or even with telling them flat out. It was a tangle really, as he told Hermione that night at dinner.

"I'm just trying to avoid a duel, that's all. You know I'm not the least bit ashamed of us, right?" They were in Grimmauld Place, Neville being at work, so they had the place to themselves.

"Of course I know that, and I think you're doing the right thing. But part of me thinks that perhaps the band-aid needs to be ripped off. If they ostracize us then they ostracize us, whatever happens we'll still be in the right."

"We'll do a test run with your parents tomorrow night, them and Luna." Luna was coming out with Harry and the Grangers to the muggles' favorite restaurant.

"I can't wait to see her reaction." Hermione then did a pretty wicked Luna impersonation, complete with her wand behind her ear and the impossibly wide eyes. She was very fond of Luna, more so than she was of Ginny among her female friends, so the mocking was genial not cruel.

"She didn't even ask about it today when we hung out with Teddy, she was just going on about some Quibbler scoop that'll be in the next edition. I listened, but it was kind of hard to follow, something about The Ministry and foot fungus." That sent Hermione into more giggles. Harry noted that:

"You're laughing a lot more lately."

"I'm happier lately." She would have thought the reason for that was obvious.

"Oh really? Why's that?" Said mock innocently.

She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him forward, proceeding to show him why for a few minutes. When she pulled away, Harry managed to catch his breath:

"You know, I'm still not sure why, you might need to do that a few more times." He was vaguely trying to remember if he had felt that alive when he had kissed Ginny. Not a good sign for Ginny that he wasn't so sure.

"When does Neville get home again?"

"Thursday nights he doesn't get out until 9:00 pm." They each checked their watches, that left well over 90 minutes.

"And Kreacher doesn't just wander around?" She positively hated the idea of snogging in front of a crotchety house elf.

"Not really, he sticks to his own areas at night."

"Then come here will you."

And for 85 minutes they didn't come up for air.

Then next night Luna and the parents Granger were told the news of the way of things, adding to a roster that already included Neville, Oliver, and Katie. Luna was delighted, at least it seemed so, and immediately started in on what Harry's and Hermione's kids might look like. Not a great conversation piece in front of Hermione's parents really, but the two of them were already on record as liking Harry, and couldn't really backtrack with any kind of credibility.

They did notice, however, how utterly happy he seemed to make their daughter, who was smiling and laughing more than they had seen her do in a long, long time. As the five of them were leaving the restaurant, Harry pulled Luna aside.

"For the time being, we need to keep this out of Weasley knowledge, if you get my meaning."

"If you say so Harry, but it's not a wise move." Luna still sounded a bit spacey, but the words weren't.

"Why not?" This should be good.

"Better to get it out in the open and let it breathe, rather than fester." Which sort of made sense.

"I was thinking a week from Sunday at the Order meeting." This was his new brainstorm, he had only told Neville about it, but wanted another opinion of someone not directly involved.

"That should be fine, but don't lie to anyone in the meantime."

Harry hadn't laid eyes on a Weasley since he and Hermione had declared love, and had no intention of changing that tune.

"I won't lie, I can promise you that."

"I know you won't Harry, you're such a nice, honorable person."

Which was, oddly, exactly how Harry saw Luna.

"I'm really glad you're my friend Luna, thank you."

She was clearly touched, and patted him companionably on the arm.

"Likewise Harry, you make life much more interesting."

"May I ask you a personal question?" He barely got that out when she responded:

"No, I do not like Ronald in a romantic way."

Hermione had dropped back to join the conversation, and Luna's response made both her and Harry stop dead in their tracks.

"How did you know I was going to ask that?"

"Because Ronald is now 'available', if one wants to use that word, and since our circle is so tight, one assumes that we will only date within it."

Eh?

"Well there's always Neville." Harry just threw that out there more for curiosity than anything.

"Neville likes Ginny, and Ronald is simply too uninteresting to imagine myself sharing a life with. He's a perfectly nice boy of course, but a 40 year old Ronald is going to be much the same as the 19 year old variety, and that is just depressing on many levels."

Hermione, who had resisted for months ripping Ron to Luna, was now open mouthed as her doubts about her former beau were echoed by her closest female friend.

"Wow." That's all Hermione could get out.

"If I am going to date a Weasley, it would be George. He's fun, lively, and has goals." She still sounded dreamy, but the words were clear enough in their meaning. And so was her next series of them:

"But please do not become matchmakers, if it is meant to be it is."

Harry, who occasionally harbored notions that Luna might be hitting for the other team, nodded in agreement.

"Whatever you say, but if you want any assistance, just say the word and I'll do anything I can to help." Hermione was nodding her agreement with that.

"Thank you Harry, so nice."

And so was she, and to prove it Harry asked her to tell Hermione about the Quibbler article about foot fungus, which she had been too polite to bring up at the dinner table. She was delighted that he asked, and regaled all four of them, the Granger parents included, with the tale as they walked to a nearby ice cream parlor for dessert and coffee. Luna was now doing about a quarter of the writing for The Quibbler, and subscriptions had gone up noticeably after her first issue.

Teddy Lupin's guest stint at Grimmauld Place was shockingly uneventful, with no memorable stories that would justify inclusion in a tale, fiction or otherwise. Kreacher actually took to him, since Teddy was, technically, a Black, and there was not the slightest issue there. Much to Harry's and Neville's relief of course. The two of them made up a room for the little lad, and they had such fun with him that Harry was planning on badgering Andromeda into allowing Teddy to stay over one weekend night per week.

Likewise Teddy was just as at home in Hermione's quarters at Hogwarts, where she spent more time playing with him than doing her lesson plans. Hermione had no brothers or sisters, but took a lot of pleasure in spending time with Teddy, which pleased her greatly, she had never really liked small children before and was rather relieved that she was growing out of it.

Teddy was now more than ever, a part of the extended family.

Wednesday, August 12, 1999

Ministry of Magic, Office of The Minister

8:30 am

This was the weekly breakfast meeting between Muggle Affairs Head Arthur Weasley and Minister of Magic Gawain Robards, with special guest Kingsley Shacklebolt in attendance as well. The divorced with no children Robards believed that food loosened people up, so to speak, so every one of his meals Monday-Saturday was with one of his department heads on a rotating schedule. This was Arthur's slot, by pure chance, and he was very welcome since he usually brought some of Molly's food.

The meeting had not covered anything unusual for the first half hour, with Kingsley saying little, but that changed as Robards finished the last of his pancakes.

"Well Arthur, you must have been wondering why Kingsley is here with us today."

Arthur looked at his colleague/friend/war buddy, and shrugged.

"I figured you would tell me eventually." He assumed something to do with Harry, and was quickly proven correct.

"You figured right, I want to talk about your young friend Harry Potter."

"What about him?" This couldn't be about the new Order, could it? Arthur and Molly only talked about it at home, and even then not in front of Percy, as per their deal with Harry.

"How is he doing?"

"He's fine from what I can tell, his first professional Quiddtich match is this weekend, I assume he's gearing up for it."

"Still no interest in joining The Ministry on his part?" This was all being said very casually, which was raising Arthur's threat antennae.

"I think if he leaves Quidditch it will be for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post at Hogwarts." Arthur, like everyone, assumed that Harry and Hermione were inevitable now, if he only knew, and thought that the DADA post would be more attractive to Harry now.

"Are you aware that he's replaced Hooch as the Flying Instructor there?"

This hit Arthur like a ton of bricks, Hooch's resignation/retirement had not been made public.

"Really? What happened to Hooch? I know that she and McGonagall weren't too friendly, but………" He trailed off, and Robards gave him the straight scoop.

"Well I didn't know any of that, I'm surprised Harry hasn't said anything." If only he believed that.

Kingsley made his first contribution to the conversation:

"I think he's trying to live a low-key life for the time being Arthur, Quidditch notwithstanding."

"I can fully sympathize with that Kingsley, Minister. Now could you please tell me why we're talking about Harry?" This was new for Arthur, directness, but he found it vaguely refreshing.

Robards looked him squarely in the eye:

"We're hearing rumblings in Knockturn Alley, some of our informants have come forward with news."

"About Harry? Has he ever even been in Knockturn Alley? Okay once when he was 12, but that was a floo accident." An amusing story that got re-told at least once a year at the Weasley table.

"About him, and the Malfoys. They have started a political organization recently, and the first issue of their newsletter will be published on Monday. Publicly published, with free distribution throughout Knockturn and Diagon Alleys."

Arthur hadn't heard any of this, but this was to be expected, since he dealt with muggle issues.

"You've seen a copy?"

"No, but we understand that Potter is mentioned more than a few times. And not in a positive way."

"Positive for the Malfoys and their supporters? Or positive for our side of the fence?"

"They make allegations of instability, of his potential power and how badly he might use it. Basically the same arguments we might make about him if he had a history on the Dark side of the ledger."

"Is that all the newsletter appears to be? A smear campaign against Harry?"

"Not quite, the three of us are mentioned quite prominently."

"I'm mentioned?" Huh? Department Head though he was, Arthur was relatively low on the totem pole.

"In regards to Harry for the most part. It's the beginning of a smear campaign Arthur, and since there are no laws in our culture against libel, it's perfectly legal."

The magical laws dealing with libel basically amounted to: Print what you want, but be prepared to be challenged to a duel if it comes to it.

"So they're coming after The Ministry, again." A bit of déjà vu for the Weasley patriarch, and Robards was agreeing with him.

"So it would seem. We don't have anyone inside their organization as of yet, but from what I gather it's Lucius and Draco Malfoy, and Yaxley as the leaders."

"Are they attempting violent overthrow of the government or are they attempting to do it politically?"

"The latter seems to be it for now, but we know where they'll go eventually." The next election for Minister of Magic was over four years away, though impeachment was another route that could be taken.

"What are you planning to do to stop them?"

"We'll get a look at their newsletter first, so we can get a clearer understanding of their mission. After that…….well let's just say that any leaders they may have should tread very softly in public."

Which told Arthur exactly squat, a not so subtle way of reminding him that his position was not one of the highest importance, other than as a back channel to a certain young man living at Grimmauld Place.

Speaking of which:

"What do you want me to tell Harry?"

"Just to continue to be on his guard, vary his routine as much as possible." This was Robards, who looked over at a coughing Kingsley. The cough seemed to remind him of something:

"Right, and tell him not to parade around his godson so much. We have a watch on Andromeda Tonks, but she and the boy are still very easy targets if the former Death Eaters decide to go on a killing spree. Any toddler is vulnerable, and if little Teddy is seen as someone politically important to kill……"

Arthur quailed a bit at that idea, but had one rejoinder:

"I agree about the parading around, and I'll tell him so. But Teddy is Narcissa Malfoy's great nephew, Draco's second cousin……….I mean, he's family to them, wouldn't they do a snatch of some kind rather than kill him?" Arthur had a hard time believing that he could talk about this scenario so dispassionately.

Kingsley had an immediate rejoinder:

"His being family is outweighed by the fact that he has werewolf blood in him, and that's how they'll see it. After all, Ted Tonks has been dead for over a year, and Narcissa Malfoy has made no overtures to her sister since, or made any attempts to build family relations with Teddy Lupin. Besides, killing Teddy, Andromeda, or both might provoke him into doing something hasty or rash, and that might be their objective here."

Arthur took the point, seeing no alternative.

"I'll let Harry know your concerns, and since Teddy is important to him, he'll understand."

Robards stood up, ending the meeting.

"Glad to hear it Arthur." He reached out his hand, and Arthur took it, doing the same with Kingsley before he exited the office. The Minister looked at his Head Auror.

"Will he do it?"

"Oh he'll talk to Harry about it, I have no doubt."

"You seem uncertain as to whether it will work."

"Harry listens to people, but I've gotten the feeling lately that he'll do what he pleases. The part about Teddy was a nice touch though, that will bring it home for him."

"I don't want that young man becoming another flash point around here. Fudge and Scrimgeour placed too much importance on him, because Dumbledore did. But Dumbledore is gone, unfortunately, and we have to do things differently."

Robards and Dumbledore had always gotten along well, though The Minister had never been approached about joining The Order. Kingsley still flinched a bit every time Dumbledore was brought up in this kind of situation, he had taken the death of his mentor very hard, and still did even though over two years had passed.

"Do you want me to talk with him? Harry and I are friends and he's been receptive to everything I've asked of him so far this summer." That was stretching things a bit, but Kingsley had his own power base to think of here.

"Let's see what the newsletter says first, but figure on heading to Aberdeen or Hogwarts sometime next week."

"You could always meet with him, coming from The Minister our views would have that much more weight."

"Not right now, no. As important as he was in the Voldemort business, he's still 19 years old and it would not look cricket for The Minister to seeking counsel from someone of that age, with such limited political skills. Besides, he'll just bring up the fact that he, correctly as it probably turns out, wanted to hang every Malfoy from the nearest lamppost. A request that we did not go along with, and I would rather not hear him say I told you so if I can help it."

Kingsley was currently regretting his part in that decision making process as well, and now decided to force things a little bit:

"Let's be clear on something before I do meet with him though: Do you want Harry out of this mess entirely, or mostly out of it but cooperating with us as much as possible?"

"It must be the latter, since Lucius won't allow us the first option. You said you've built a rapport with Potter, well between you and Arthur, and perhaps McGonagall if it comes to it, then we can keep the lid on."

"I agree with you, but there is one option I feel obligated to present to you:"

"Go on."

"I select a small team of our best Aurors and have them take out the Malfoys. Permanently."

Robards leaned back in his chair almost to the point of falling over in it, not saying anything for over a minute. Kingsley didn't much care for this tactic, the assassination game, but felt that someone needed to say it out loud.

"Not yet Kingsley. I'm not saying no, I'm saying not yet. Have the people you want in mind, but don't talk to them about it until you get the go ahead from me first."

What Kingsley took from this statement was: "Yes, I want to do it, but I want some political cover first in case we get caught." No one said this out loud of course, but the undercurrent was in the room.

"Yes Minister, I understand you completely."

"Good."

Kingsley was soon off to beat the bushes in Knockturn Alley, while The Minister dealt with the mound of paperwork on his desk, The Minister's main duty in this, a time of peace.

So to speak.

Sunday, August 16, 1999

MacClannough Quidditch Stadium, North Highlands Scotland

Home of Pride of Portree

2:00 pm

This would ordinarily not be a talked about Quidditch match, a meeting of the 10th and 13th place teams from the season before, but of the six games being played this day it was far and away the best attended.

Because The Boy Who Lived was playing Quidditch for pay for the first time. Pretty much the entire Scottish magical community was already going to be in attendance anyway, since these were the only two teams based in Scotland, but Harry's participation drew quite a few spectators that would have gone to other matches……including Ron Weasley, who had used his first paycheck of the summer on season tickets to the Chudley Cannons, but was here mostly because his mother had told him to. The Weasleys and friends were all sitting in front of mid-field, right below Clive and Lenora Reynolds private box, the box given over to the visiting team's ownership.

Hermione was sitting on the far side of the group, next to Oliver's family, with plenty of people in between her, Ron, and Ginny. The public unveiling of her and Harry was to be in a few hours at the Order meeting and she was a bit on edge about it. Luna, sitting next to her on the Weasley side, put a hand on her arm.

"Don't be so fidgety you know, Harry will be fine up there." Rather misreading the situation, but Hermione was on some level worried about that too.

"He'd better be, he didn't have a Quidditch injury all of last year, he's due for one." This elicited a Luna giggle, the whole point of the line, and Hermione was now chuckling too as the announcer read off the lineups for Portree and Puddlemere. The Puddlemere group started with Oliver and ended with:

"And making his professional debut, first year Seeker Harry Potter!"

A roar went up from every part of the stands at hearing this, even the Portree fans were excited.

The early part of the game was a study in Chaser tactics, as the six Chasers in the air got used to game pressure. There were sloppy passes, dropped passes, and even a couple of shots on goal as Puddlemere took a 40-20 lead by the 20 minute mark. Harry didn't have much to do other than fly around and avoid Bludgers.

This was a problem though, because the Puddlemere Beaters were far and away the weak spot of the team now, and over the course of the game they gave Harry and the Chasers precious little help. The Snitch made a quick appearance in the first 20 minutes, but otherwise Harry merely admired the view of the Highlands and Katie scoring three goals. It was just after the 20 minute mark, when Harry was looking over into the stands, that he saw them:

Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy, all sitting in the front row of the Portree section of the stands. They were waving Portree flags with one hand and making some kind of hand gesture with the other……at least they were once Lucius and his omnioculars spied Harry noticing them. They seemed to be in great moods altogether, just another family out for a great afternoon of high level Quidditch.

Harry wanted nothing more in life to buzz them where they sat, perhaps the end of his broom could 'accidentally' clip one of them on the head. But instead he flew away, much to their snickering, renewing his search for the Snitch as his old Ravenclaw foe and current teammate Roger Davies scored Puddlemere's sixth goal while just afterward being unseated by a well placed Bludger shot. He landed in a heap on the cushioned ground but was otherwise okay.

The Portree Seeker, not a Hogwarts alum, was openly laughing at the Davies spectacle, and was only alerted to a Snitch appearance by the announcer:

"And Potter goes after the Snitch! It's heading for Wood in the Puddlemere goal area and Potter is gaining rapidly…….he's almost there………he's got it!"

It was a quick way to earn his pay, a less than 20 second sprint through the air, but Harry, after a high five with Oliver, did a slow victory lap around the pitch.

"And Puddlemere United wins the game by a score of 210-30!" This was said loudly, but not enthusiastically by the Portree home announcer, as Portree lost it's ninth consecutive opening game of the season, while Puddlemere now had half of it's win total from the previous season already.

Harry's people were all cheering wildly, even Percy was smiling and clapping heartily, though he hadn't yet been told that his dinner plans were about to be pre-empted by a meeting at Grimmauld Place.

The Boy Who Lived couldn't resist one gesture though, he flew in front of the Portree section, right in front of the Malfoys.

"So glad you could make it, I hope you enjoyed the show!" He was grinning broadly, and made a point of planting a smooch on the Snitch. He flew back down to the ground before he could hear a reply, and thus missed the satisfied looks on the faces of Lucius and Draco. Narcissa was only vaguely aware of her men folk's activities, but detested Harry on principle…….and would have even if he weren't living in her family's old house.

Harry came in for a soft landing, hopping off his broom to the congratulations of the entire team, as well as Clive and his wife Lenora, whose family had owned Puddlemere for five generations now. Her husband was nothing but smiles now:

"Excellent job team, excellent, we are very, very pleased. This is our year, we break the championship drought now."

Hang on there a minute Clive, Puddlmere was coming off a 2-21-1 record, missing a win-less season by only 20 points in one game and a Snitch catch in another. But nobody pointed that out, certainly not any of the players. Harry simply handed his boss the Snitch, and received a hearty pat on the back in exchange.

Which nearly knocked him over, even though he was barely tired at all.

"You were outstanding Harry, I'm very pleased."

"I'm glad we started off so well sir."

"It's the start of great things." He turned and shook hands with the rest of the team, reserves included, as Harry walked off to the visitors' locker room for his shower. Not that he really needed one. After a four hour practice sure, but a 25 minute game was a cake walk after that. He was out in less than 10 minutes, and climbed into the stands to see that his group was all still there, chattering away at each other.

They hailed him as the conquering hero, and he spent five minutes getting hugs and handshakes from everyone. He reached Ron last.

"I wish you had been out there with me." He didn't really, he had a lot more faith in Oliver than Ron when it came to his chosen sport, but he was being politic when he said it. It worked though;

"I should have learned to play Beater maybe, but its just as fun watching you and being a fan." To his credit, Ron was smart enough to know that Harry was fibbing, but he appreciated the effort.

"Except when we play the Cannons."

"Well I'm glad that it's not until October for that." Ron had shown up for this game, but aside from Harry's bye weeks, he figured this was going to his last Harry game unless it involved the Cannons.

Dinner was to be at Grimmauld Place, with the Order meeting afterward, so the lot of them made the journey down to the floo fireplace below the stands. They would floo first to Hogsmeade, then make the walk up to Hogwarts and get to Grimmauld Place from Harry's new office. The day after Arthur's meeting with The Minister, Harry had sent an owl to everyone announcing his new post at Hogwarts, and the reasons for it. He still had no official duties as of yet, and wouldn't until school started, but he had an office now, and Grimmauld Place was now hooked up to the Hogwarts floo network, which like Harry's house had limited connections, due to security restrictions.

The group made it 'home' with little trouble, and Kreacher prepared a fine meal as he always did. Percy didn't question what he was doing there, at least until he tried to leave right after dessert. But he was stopped by Harry of all people.

"You should hang around Percy."

"Why's that Harry?" A tad bit more friendly than usual from the both of them.

"There's going to be a meeting in a few minutes, once Oliver and Katie get here. You'll want to hear what's going on." Oliver and Katie were finishing up dinner with their combined families, and would be coming in via the front door, after a bit of Apparating.

"Sounds intriguing."

"It's never dull around here, that's for sure." Harry walked back over to Hermione.

"Wow, you were actually nice to him."

"I'm not a total jerk you know."

"Really?" She was gently mocking him, and he grinned back at her.

"Aren't you hilarious?"

"Yes I am, thank you for noticing."

"I really wish everyone would stop staring at us." And they were, though aside from Ron and Ginny it seemed to be more curiosity than anything. There was a loud knock on the front door, and Neville walked over to let Oliver and Katie in. While the two were getting themselves something to drink, Harry decided to do another pre-emptive strike. He walked over to Ron and Ginny.

"Ron, could you come with me a minute? There's something you need to see." He deliberately excluded Ginny, and this wasn't lost on his ex.

But Ron just shrugged, and followed Harry into the kitchen, along with a curious Hermione.

"So what's up? What do I have to see?" His voice betrayed nothing of what he might be thinking, which Harry could totally respect.

So he took the bull by the horns:

"Hermione and I are seeing each other now." A bit blunt perhaps, and there might have even been a little hint of a sigh coming from Hermione, but there it was.

"For how long?" It was more than idle curiosity, and Harry didn't dare let Hermione answer him.

"I swear on my life that there was no overlapping." He sure sounded sincere when he said it, and Ron was gracious enough to believe him.

"Am I the last to know?" He didn't sound mad, just resigned.

"You're the first Weasley actually, we weren't sure how you lot were going to respond. We're going to let everyone know tonight, but we did want you to be first." In case there were any problems, but Harry chose not to mention that.

Ron surprised them both by proffering his hand to Harry.

"Congratulations I guess."

Harry shook it, and neither of them squeezed any harder than necessary, no games to be played. Ron did not offer a similar gesture to Hermione though, and still addressed Harry.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go nuts or try to duel you. I can be a man about things sometimes you know."

"I wasn't worried about a duel Ron, not at all." Since I would win it, Harry thought but did not say.

Ron then did say something to Hermione.

"I just want you to be happy, and if he is that guy, then so be it."

"Thank you Ron, your friendship really does mean a lot to me."

"It does to me too Hermione…….I guess we really weren't suited for each other were we? I mean we don't really have the same interests and all that. I still don't like books so much, and your idea of fun and mine is pretty different." Ron was being rather reflective, though it wasn't too different than what Hermione had said to him during their breakup talk.

Hermione was now not a little flabbergasted at having her own arguments thrown…….well not back at her, but in front of her. Ron continued:

"So yeah, of course we're all still friends, and I appreciate how you're handling this. Ginny won't, just to warn you, but I'm sure the two of you can take her if worse comes to worse." He was now, faintly, smiling, and Harry and Hermione both relaxed. The worst seemed to be over.

Until they saw the Malfoy newsletter, that was 10 minutes into the future.

End Chapter


	8. The True Voice

Sunday, August 16, 1999 continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:00 pm

The three of them, Ron, Hermione, and Harry, walked back into the living room. Neville looked at Harry expectantly, as if to say 'well?'

Harry responded by taking Hermione's hand in his, though not ostentatiously. Since every eye was on them in some manner anyway, there was now no need to make any kind of announcement.

Bill and Fleur, who technically speaking were not in the know about Harry/Hermione, nevertheless had made a point of standing next to Ginny when they saw the Trio disappear into the kitchen. After the handholding gesture, Bill made a point of standing in front of his little sister. His wand wasn't out, but he was ready to draw. He was very quiet in his words:

"Easy Ginny, don't do anything that you might regret."

She just glared at her brother.

"You don't want to be in my way Bill." Her voice was just as quiet, with a mixture equally of hurt and anger.

"Yes I do, and you had better not do anything that would embarrass Mum or Dad, or make them choose sides in fight." He could see his wife, out of the corner of his eye, scanning the room for potential hostilities……..at least that's what he hoped she was doing, her hand was in the same pocket housing her wand anyway. He knew that in this room only Harry could probably take down Fleur in a fight…….but he also knew that Fleur would never draw her wand against Harry under any circumstances.

"Don't ever give me orders." Ginny was still pissed.

"I'll do what I must. You have no reason to throw down here and you know it, you and Harry broke up months ago, and whatever torch you still have for him, you need to let it go. Now." Bill had been prepping this little speech since the day he found out about the Ron/Hermione breakup, he knew that no one else in the family would be willing to challenge Ginny on this, even his parents.

Sorry, especially his parents, who had always doted on the youngest child and only daughter.

"This isn't right."

"If anyone in this room has a right to be honked off it's Ron, and he's not making a scene. Now Harry and Hermione are grown adults and have the right to date who they want."

"I can't believe you're taking their side in all this." To her credit though, she was trying to keep her voice down, knowing that all ears were trying to hear what she was saying.

"I'm not taking sides Ginny, I'm doing what's right, not what's easy."

This byplay had attracted mucho attention from the other Order people, but no one was interfering…….at least until George and Percy walked over.

"C'mon Ginny, let's get some chip and dip, Kreacher laid out a big platter of it." This was Percy, and he put his arm around her shoulders and guided his sister over to the platter of snacks. While they did this, George looked at his big brother:

"Well? Is she going to force things?"

"Probably. That was a nice touch with Percy."

"He's still wondering what the heck he's doing here, but he's not such a bad guy anymore."

The wondering would cease in a moment, as Harry let go of Hermione's hand and walked to the center of the room.

"Okay everybody, let's get this meeting of The Order of the Phoenix started." He used the full name for Percy's benefit, and the redhead almost dropped the snack plate he was holding.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"You heard right Percy, the Order is being formed again, and we would like you to participate, if you're willing." That was hard for Harry to say, but he managed to sound sincere as he did it. Molly and Arthur both shot him grateful looks before turning their attention to their son.

Who just stood there for a moment, before starting to nod.

"Well of course, if you think I would be an asset."

"We do. Now I believe Arthur has something to share with us."

Harry and Arthur had not spoken in the days since the older man's breakfast meeting with Robards and Kingsley, and Arthur just stared at his young friend for a second.

"Why whatever do you mean Harry?" In a tone of curiosity.

"Something about a newsletter that's supposed to come out tomorrow, called The True Voice. I haven't seen a copy of it myself, but apparently I'm the star attraction in it."

Everyone was wondering what the hell he was babbling about, everyone except Arthur and Molly. Arthur took a small bundle out of his pocket, and enlarged it.

"This is an advance copy that a Ministry source procured for us in Knockturn Alley last night. May I ask how you knew about it?"

"I would rather not say right now Arthur, my source insisted on complete anonymity, even from my closest friends."

His source had been Wallging, the goblin in charge of his account. The goblins knew everything worth knowing about magical affairs, and the newsletter was no different. Wallging was particularly fond of Harry, he had admired the audacity of the Gringott's raid, and held nothing against Harry for it. He did not furnish Harry with a copy, but told him pretty much what was in it.

This still did not go over well with the assembled group, and Harry could see that.

"A promise is a promise, I would think you all would understand that better than most." Which did little, but now everyone was focused on Arthur, who was making copies with his wand and handing them out, one by one.

The newsletter was eight pages, with only one photograph:

Of Harry, who was certainly not smiling in it, and the moving picture showed him looking for ways out of the frame.

The headline was:

The Boy Who Lived: Dangerous?

None of the articles were signed or had any by-lines, which was fortunate for the writers because of the four dealing with Harry directly, even the least inflammatory made him want to hurt someone. The front page article, which continued on the following two pages, went into great detail about Harry's series of nightmares during his last year at Hogwarts……..and included a blow-by-blow version of the November incident where he almost killed his four roommates.

Ron was a faster reader than most gave him credit for, and once he got to that part:

"I had nothing to do with this Harry, you have to believe that." He could see his friend's temper beginning to redline, and so could Neville:

"Someone talked, and I know it wasn't either of us." He couldn't fathom that Ron would be so stupid as to turn on Harry again, especially given that the Hermione business had been made public after the newsletter was printed.

There wasn't a person in the room who wasn't thinking of two names:

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. No one else could have furnished that kind of detail, as even Ginny and Hermione hadn't known some it.

Harry managed to calm himself, and was reading the rest of the newsletter. There was a back page article about Gawain Robards which speculated heavily on what he was doing during the end of the war, and how he got to be Minister in spite of it. Arthur, as was speculated, was mentioned more than once, as was Kingsley and other Ministry higher-ups. Notable in her exclusion, given her status as a high profile muggleborn:

Hermione, who was not mentioned one time in eight pages. She easily noted this, and went over to Harry and whispered it, and a few other things to him. Her beau walked over to Ron and Neville.

"I know it wasn't either of you."

Ron had never been more relieved in his life, while Neville continued out loud what he had mentally been pondering for the last five minutes.

"Which one of them then? Dean or Seamus? I mean which one is so stupid that they would talk about what happened to a Malfoy, when they had to know that the trail would lead right back to them?"

This was the only conversation going on in the room, as everyone was either still on their first reading, or in the case of Bill, Percy, and Hermione, on their second or third. The other three articles on Harry were somewhat less factually oriented, and Hermione in particular was counting errors and inconsistencies. She walked over to the three men.

"Well I see 14 flat out lies, and another 11 where they misstated facts slightly in order to draw the negative conclusion. What about the nightmare article?"

Harry was now forced to admit something to the group:

"I didn't see any falsehoods in that article, about the nightmares, everything is more or less as how I remember it. Neville, Ron?" Ron went next:

"They pretty much have it down. Neville?"

"I agree with Ron, as far as what actually happened. Their conclusions are totally bollocks of course.

The conclusions included a suggestion that Harry be committed to St. Mungo's for an evaluation at the very least, if not a long stay next to his former Defense teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, who was not improving enough to see free air anytime soon. There was no mention anywhere in the article of Harry's sleeping and behavior since Hogwarts' graduation, nor was the Diagon Alley meeting between Harry, Lucius, and Draco brought up.

Harry himself resisted any urge to crumple his copy up, and instead carefully set it down on an end table. He looked at the room.

"Does anyone here think I'm crazy? Speak now or forever hold your peace, as the saying goes."

More than one person would have answered that question affirmatively two months ago, if they were to be honest, which they probably wouldn't have been. But no one other than Percy even remotely believed it now, and his belief was only remote. He made a point of having a neutral expression on his face though, as he shook his head along with everyone else.

Satisfied, Harry started slowly pacing around.

"What's going to be the public reaction when they see this abortion?" He said it to nobody in particular, but George answered him.

"I don't think it'll turn too many people against you that weren't there already. It hurts their credibility that they didn't sign any of the articles, so their intent clearly is to undermine you and not present 'facts', if you will. I'll make a point of going round Diagon Alley tomorrow and seeing what the scuttlebutt is." George was very popular in Diagon Alley, and everyone agreed that he was the right person to do this, even Hermione, who turned to Arthur:

"What will be The Ministry's reaction?"

"There will be no official reaction, since that would only lend this filth credence. The Minister has seen it, but will not comment for the record, even about the parts pertaining to himself." The parts that called him a yellow coward who should have picked a side in the last war. After Harry, Gawain Robards was the number two target in the newsletter.

Bill turned to Hermione:

"Hermione, make a list of those lies and facts misstatements and get them to me, I'll distribute them through Gringotts. Luna, is there anything The Quibbler can do here?"

Luna was still reading, and didn't look up as she answered:

"I'm sure we can do some kind of special edition if we gather enough material. Our next issue goes on sale tomorrow, so we're not that close to having enough to again so soon. They timed this well, they must have assumed that Daddy would be willing to be Harry's forum again." This was as lucid sounding as a few had ever heard Luna, though her voice did sound a bit distracted from attempting to read and talk at the same time. Bill scanned the room.

"Okay, everybody not named George is directed to write your own article rebutting this crap. Do not mention the Malfoys unless they publicly take credit for this crap tomorrow, which we know they won't. Once you're done, get them to Luna and her father. Dad, see if you can find out how often this newsletter is going to come out, I didn't see a mention of a next issue but we have to assume there's going to be one. You'll be our person inside The Ministry, with Percy backing you up, since Ginny and Neville are too junior for anyone to really confide in. Harry, Oliver, and Katie will have some uncomfortable conversations tomorrow with Seamus and Dean, find out who exposed your secrets like that. Don't try to harm them or anything like that, but make clear that if they want to play, we'll accommodate them." He paused for breath, only to see most everyone looking at him with awestruck expressions.

Harry was just smiling, and now he had his say:

"I believe our leader has emerged. Anyone opposed to Bill Weasley heading The Order?"

Needless to say, no one was opposed, and Bill didn't try the aw shucks routine to turn it down. He had thought a lot about this, and had decided that if the chance came, he would take the reins.

"Thank you, and I accept. Harry will be my……well my chief of staff, so to speak, since he has time to spare for it and some contacts that we apparently don't know about. All right, everyone get writing."

Harry had plenty of parchment and such in his upstairs office, and soon all the coffee tables, and there were a lot, were covered in sheets. These were all going to be rough drafts anyway, they all wanted to see how this would play in the public before they did anything official. Luna flooed home to talk to her father, and reported back that while he had not heard anything about the newsletter, he was more than willing to put out a special edition of The Quibbler in response. She would whisper to Harry that he still felt very guilty about almost handing the Trio over to the Death Eaters and would do almost anything to compensate. Harry always treated Luna with kid gloves and now was no different:

"C'mon Luna, he was trying to protect you that's all. I'm not pissed at him, and please tell him so." Not 100 percent true, but he did want the man's help after all.

Harry did keep an eye, most of the time, on Ginny, as did Hermione. He was pretty sure that any trouble wouldn't be started tonight, but better safe than sorry.

For her part, Ginny wasn't so wounded that she didn't realize that there was little support for her anger in the room. Instead she put her focus on her own rebuttal parchment, not looking up for the next half hour. She did her best to tell the truth, yet be kind to her ex at the same time. It was a fine line at times, but she skirted it with pretty good dexterity.

For his part Percy was unclear about what he was supposed say in his, given that tonight was far and away the most he and Harry had conversed. So instead he focused on his own ambitions and wrote a two page defense of Gawain Robards, thinking that it couldn't hurt. Arthur peered over his shoulder at one point and saw what he was doing, but there was so little tension in the room, astonishingly enough, that he decided to leave well enough alone and not push anything.

Luna collected them all at the end of the night, and promised that her editing skills would be used judiciously and with the best of intentions. She left with a thick stack of papers and worked through the night. The rebuttal Quibbler, if it was needed at all, would likely be ready to go to press on Monday night.

As everyone was lining up for the floo at the end of the night, save Harry and Neville, our boy tapped Percy on the shoulder.

"So, are you in?"

"Of course, I don't want those people getting any traction again, it was bad enough last time."

"And you can handle the way of things? I mean I'm not the boss of course, but I'll have influence."

Percy took a deep breath and chose honesty:

"We've had our differences over the years, and I still maintain that I meant the best at the time when I wrote Ron that letter…….but things have changed, and you turned out to be more right than we could have ever thought. I won't be on the wrong side again." He held out his hand for Harry to shake.

Which he did, a faint smile on his lips.

"Fair enough. Welcome to the Order." He was about to say 'brother', but thought better of it at the last instant. Molly had been about to take her turn through the floo, but heard the exchange and looked like she wanted to hug them both, but a discreet poke from Arthur moved her along and there was no more Weasley-based drama for the evening.

Harry and Neville left the cleanup for Kreacher to handle in the morning, and sat in the kitchen eating ice cream. Between bites of Rocky Road:

"So what happened to the you, me, Hermione troika leading the Order? I don't mind of course, but it was a change in your plan."

"Bill's a better organizer than you or I, and Hermione's just too radioactive for some of the Weasleys right now. He's the right front man."

Neville was in full agreement with the latter statement, as well as the comment about Hermione. Speaking of which:

"I can't believe Ron didn't at least pout some."

"I'm sure he is right now, who knows what he and Ginny might be plotting right about now."

"Pranking revenge maybe?"

"Let's hope that's all it is, but their parents and George will keep them in line otherwise, I'm not worried."

"And Bill, did you see the way he talked Ginny down?"

"Why do you think I went along with him heading The Order? Anyone with that kind of diplomacy skill is someone we want out there for us."

Both of them started laughing, and were soon on their separate ways, Neville to bed and Harry to his still secret writing project.

Monday, August 17, 1999

Various points in magical Great Britain

1:00 pm and after

The publication of The True Voice newsletter was greeted mostly with skepticism by the general magical population, and since the newsletter was free pretty much everyone read it. There was a large core of the people who had vivid memories of how terrible it had been under Voldemort and his puppet Ministry, and they knew that Harry had ended it. That was the majority anyway. A silent for the last year and change minority had liked things under Voldemort and resented Harry for stopping a good/bad thing.

And then there were those who didn't care much either way, and The True Voice was aimed squarely at them. In muggle politics, or even magical politics, they would termed 'undecided's', and were usually the key to any campaign. This propaganda ploy got to some of them, and if polling had been taken on this issue, Harry's stock would have dropped a few points just from the uncertainty that the articles generated. Just a few though, even if no one thought that this opening salvo would be the final one.

Puddlemere United, victory the day before notwithstanding, still had a long practice in the morning. But after practice, and a long-ish lunch, Harry, Katie, and Oliver stopped by Honeydukes in Hogsmeade, where Seamus Finnegan was now the assistant manager. The store only had a couple of customers when the Puddlemere trio wandered in, but the person at the counter was the man they had come to see.

"Hey there Seamus."

Seamus was not as smart as your average bear, but he would have had to be an idiot not to guess what Harry was doing there.

"Hi Harry, how goes it?"

The other two customers in the store were together, an older couple, so Oliver and Katie went near them and started conversing somewhat loudly. That gave their teammate a modicum of privacy for his threats.

"Well not so good you know Seamus, being a nutbar and all."

"Yeah, I saw that paper that's going around."

"Is there anything you'd like to share with me?"

"What do you mean?" He knew what Harry meant, but couldn't see a way out of it.

"Some of that information could only have come from one of the five of us: You, Dean, Neville, Ron, or me……..and I know I didn't talk to the publishers of the rag."

There was more than a hint of threat in his voice, and Seamus was momentarily so scared that his reply was delayed.

"It wasn't me, I never talked about what your nightmares were like and all that. You know why?"

"Why?" This should be good.

"Because I didn't want you visiting me with your wand drawn, like right now."

Harry's wand wasn't drawn, or even sticking out of his pocket. But then again neither was Seamus', and the other man didn't like his chances in a firefight with his former roommate. Still, Harry took the point.

"You didn't let it slip, to Parvati or Lavender perhaps?" Seamus had dated both over the years, though he was currently single.

"No, again because I didn't want you asking me questions about it. The last thing I want is for you to think I've turned on you."

Harry was now kicking himself for not bringing some Veritaserum. It was hard to get stuff, but he had the cash to make it happen, and he could always force Seamus to drink it at wand point.

"What about Dean?" Seamus and Dean were still best friends, without the various hiccups that highlighted the Harry/Ron friendship.

"I don't see why he would, but you'd have to ask him."

"Residual jealousy over Ginny maybe?"

After Harry and Ginny had broken up, Dean had come calling around again, hoping to restore that which was sundered. But Ginny, feeling that Harry had just needed a little time, had gently rebuffed him. Dean had been steadfast to the Harry cause over the years, but there were scars.

"You'd have to ask him, I'm not going to violate any confidences, threats or not."

"At what point in this conversation have I threatened you Seamus?" He did admire the guy's sand though, and the reply demonstrated more:

"This entire visit is a threat! You're not here because you want to talk about old times."

That was said a little loudly, but Katie and Oliver were still distracting the other customers, who had asked for autographs and were now talking Quidditch with them.

"I do want to talk about old times, I want to make sure that what happened in that dorm room stays there. We all agreed on that back then, I'm just holding you to it now." Harry's voice had never strayed from friendliness, though he did agree with his ex-roomie that the visit was a threat.

"And I'm telling you Harry that I did not spill to anyone. Get some Veritaserum right now and I'll prove it."

Harry checked his watch after hearing that, he knew that Slughorn was supposed to be at Hogwarts today, and that the rotund Potion's teacher had significant stocks of the drug in his cupboard…….and more importantly, he owed Harry a favor or two.

"Okay, here's what I'm offering: 20 galleons if you take the Veritaserum and pass. The cash will be for your time and my way of apologizing." He left unsaid the 'if you don't pass' part, feeling that it was obvious.

"Go get it, you can have those two stay here and baby-sit me to make sure I don't bolt." The reply to Harry's challenge was immediate, and our boy could respect that.

"Fair enough, I'll be back in a bit."

He walked over to Oliver and Katie and apprised them of the situation, then Apparated to the Hogwarts gates, walking the rest of the way. Finding Slughorn was the least of his problems, and the older man readily provided two doses, one presumably for Dean, without much begging on Harry's part. He didn't stop to fill in Hermione, but was instead back in Honeydukes within 30 minutes of leaving, not bad time considering.

Katie manned the counter while her boyfriend and Harry went with Seamus to the back, he was the only employee working this day. They did the deed with the drugs, and Seamus soon coughed up:

Well, nothing much at all.

"Did you tell anyone the details of the night in November when I almost killed you."

"No."

"Did you write it down in any way?"

"No."

And there they had it, Harry took out his money bag and immediately paid up.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I had to come in here like this."

"I don't blame you really, I probably would have done the same in your position." Seamus was shrugging, because he would have.

"Do you really think it might be Dean?" He figured that Seamus would know him best.

"Him or Ron, that's all I can think of. They each have Ginny issues with you in their own way, and who knows what they might be willing to talk about if you get them sufficiently angry."

Such a thing had occurred to Harry of course, and to Hermione and Neville as well. But Ron was the last option as far as confrontation went, and Harry genuinely believed that he was clean here. At least Seamus was definitely clean.

"I've thought about Ron, but right now our main suspect is Dean. Where might we find him?"

If ever Seamus was going to flat out say 'not on your life', it was here.

"He just got a job in the muggle world, at a repair shop of some kind. His thing with Gringott's didn't work out." Dean had been hired as an entry level functionary with the bank.

"A repair shop? Huh?"

"Just keep your wand up your sleeve and you can fix things in no time at all, he'll be the star of the place you know."

Oliver and Harry looked at each other with an 'ohhhh' dual expression.

"You have the address?"

"Sure, let me grab a piece of paper." He did so, scribbling down some directions as well.

"Look, I'm giving you this because I don't think Dean gave you up. If I did, I'd say find him on your own. But I think he'll pass the Veritaserum test like I did."

"So you really think Ron blabbed?"

"I don't think Dean did, so if that means Ron………." He left the rest unsaid. But the gist got across, no one anywhere thought that Neville was the culprit. Harry and company took off after a polite request not to let Dean know they were coming, which was granted. Things were left much friendlier than they started as the Puddlemere crew left the building. Katie had a query:

"Are we going to go up to school and tell Hermione?"

"Nah, the three of us can handle it, we'll let her know afterward." Harry also had it in the back of his mind that Seamus had been just a bit too cooperative about Dean, and he wanted to get there quick before something else fishy happened.

The three of them Apparated into London, at a secure spot used by Wizards and Witches for years, and made the rest of the trip via the Underground. They reached the repair shop in good order, McDivitt's Auto and Electronic Repair Emporium, and seeing the sign, Harry motioned for Oliver, a Scot after all, to do the talking. At the counter:

"Hello there, we're friends of Dean Thomas', we were wondering if we might have a minute of his time."

The counter person yelled something unintelligible to the back, and within a minute a balding man in his mid-40's came up.

"I'm Jim McDivitt, you're looking for Dean?" The man looked a bit irritated.

"Yes sir, but I'm getting the idea that he's not here."

"No he's not, he didn't show up Friday either, no calls or anything. You might want to tell him when you see him that if he's not in the hospital right now, he's out of a job."

"We'll do that sir, thank you for your time." Oliver made the quick decision that they should get out of there, and Harry and Katie followed along with him without complaint. The people inside the shop, the owner and the counter person, gave them long looks until they were out of sight, but there was no pursuit. Once outside, Katie spoke the obvious:

"What the hell is going on here? Did he quit his job voluntarily? Or is he a prisoner some place?"

There was no good answer to that, given the slight number of facts they had access to, and Harry started walking slowly toward the Underground station nearby.

"I think we have to check out his flat and see what's going on there. He won't be there of course, but we might find out something about what happened." Seamus had written down that address as well.

Oliver liked this idea in theory, but he had read enough muggle detective yarns that he saw the wide flaw in that plan.

"Harry, you know that we can't go anywhere near Dean's place on our own. That's all the Malfoys need to paint you as some kind of vigilante. We're stretching things as it is with the visits we've made, but they'll pass since they're all in public places. This wouldn't be. Either we get Seamus to go over there, or we have your friend Shacklebolt accompany us."

Harry pondered this for a moment, and turned to Katie.

"What do you think?"

"See if Kingsley will come or send someone. We can't afford the appearance of impropriety if someone's watching that place."

"All right, where are we in relation to The Ministry?" They looked around, none of them were terribly familiar with London, both of Harry's friends having grown up in Scotland. At the Underground station there was a large map of the city on the wall and they got their bearings from there, making another combined subway and Apparition trip. It took a bit of time, and Harry's newfound patience was getting the proverbial workout, but eventually the three of them were in Kingsley's office explaining what they had been up to.

"So what do you think Kingsley? Does it merit an investigation?"

Kingsley too was a lover of muggle detective books, and to him this was straight out of something The Hardy Boys might be involved in. But at the same time, it was a striking coincidence that Dean would go missing. He got up and walked to the door, propped it open, and yelled:

"Pullman, Maher!" These two were his security detail when he left the building on official duties, which he wasn't going to be doing any more of today after the completion of some paperwork.

Jake Pullman and Robyn Maher soon hurried into the office of their boss, and were given the 10 second primer on what the Puddlemere folk had discovered.

"I want you two to go over to Dean's place with these three and take a look see. Don't get caught by any muggle authorities if you can help it, and do a wide scan of the surroundings first, see if this is a set-up."

"Got it sir." That was Pullman.

"We report back to you if we find anything?" This was Maher, the more senior of the two and nominally in charge.

"You report back here whether you find anything or not. If you see any surveillance on the place, attempt to apprehend whomever is doing it. Harry, Oliver, Katie, you are not to be involved with any arrests in any way, shape, or form unless it looks like these two are in mortal danger. Got it?" They replied in the order he named them.

"Got it."

"You bet."

"Hands in our pockets the whole time."

"Good, I'll await your report." He directed that to his actual employees, and soon the five of them were off. Dean lived a stone's throw from Heathrow Airport, a popular area for magical people who wanted a muggle neighborhood experience, since due to the noise factor the rents were cheap. The noise didn't bother the magicals though, since there were any number of Charms that could eliminate any pesky take-off and landing sounds. After arriving at the outskirts, Pullman and Maher did their scans and indeed found so many magical signatures that they didn't know whether it was surveillance or just the neighbors. So after a quick consult with each other, they led Harry and crew into Dean's apartment, finding only a very tidy place for a 19 year old bachelor.

Perhaps a bit too tidy, as Harry was quick to point out.

"Dean was never this neat at school, no way would everything be this straight and clean."

At roughly the same time, in Malfoy Manor:

Draco strolled up to the guest room door, and made a point of loudly knocking, though he didn't wait to be told to come in before entering. He looked at his guest:

"Good afternoon Thomas, having a nice day so far?"

End Chapter


	9. Being Responsive

Monday, August 17, 1999 continued

Dean Thomas' flat

4:30 pm

"Dean was never this neat at school, no way would everything be this straight and clean." Indeed you could just about eat off the floor, certainly the three second rule was in no danger here. Maher just shrugged, her gut instinct telling her that there was nothing doing here, but they had to go through the motions.

"Everyone pick a room and poke around. Check for booby traps before you touch anything though."

Flunkies that they may have been, she and Pullman were fully trained DMLE and Auror personnel, and crime scene investigation, or CSI, had been drilled into them. Maher took Dean's bedroom while Pullman swept the living room.

And both of them found exactly squat, though in fairness that's what they had been expecting. All they could really look for was signs of a struggle, and there was certainly none of that. Nor did the Puddlemere trio discover anything in the kitchen, loo, or closets. Dean had not packed his suitcase, that was in the bedroom closet, and the refrigerator and pantries were filled with enough food for the coming week.

After about 15 minutes of this, Maher called them all into the living room, after the placing of some Charms.

"Okay there's nothing doing here. I put up some Surveillance Charms, so we'll know if anyone comes back."

Harry had a small point to raise:

"Unless they get around them, like I did with the ones you put on my locker." He didn't think he was giving away any big secrets here, and Maher confirmed this by smiling.

"That was more of a message to you than anything we might have gleaned without your knowledge, and the boss said as much at the time. Still, the forms must be obeyed and all that. Let's go."

They went, and 10 minutes later Kingsley, having had a brief moment with The Minister about all this, was shaking his head.

"No crime has been committed here that we know of, or can remotely prove. Look, off the record, I would love nothing more than to go into Malfoy Manor with a fine tooth comb and ferret out what we figure must be in there. But we can't." He was momentarily puzzled by the grins at the ferret comment, but brushed it aside so he could make his point.

"What can we do?"

"Constant vigilance, if you don't mind me quoting Alastor. I assume you're getting together some kind of response to the newsletter?"

"Safe assumption."

"Good, if it's not too much trouble I'd like to see a copy in advance. We did make sure Arthur got one to show you."

Harry wanted no part of telling him that his goblin manager had given him the scoop two days before Arthur had, so he had no choice but to go along with this.

"Let me talk to Luna and see what's going on with that, but yes, you'll have an advance copy."

"Go ahead and floo her now if you want to."

Kingsley was puzzlingly insistent for something that shouldn't be such a big deal, but Harry too was curious and went over to the floo fireplace.

"The Quibbler!"

Thankfully Luna was the one who answered.

"Oh hello there Harry." She was smiling, but even in the floo Harry could tell that she looked tired.

"Hi Luna, I was wondering how our response was coming."

"It will be ready to print by 9:00 pm or so, at least that's what the typesetter says."

This had been what Harry was hoping to hear, best that they get it out right on the True Voice's heels.

"It's good?"

"It's wonderful, we will all be very pleased I think."

Harry was now regretting doing this, as he was praying that she wouldn't mention The Order, as there was no way of her being able to tell where he was doing the floo call from. Or was there?

"I'm sure we will, since you're in charge of it. I'm in Kingsley Shacklebolt's office, any chance you could have a copy waiting for someone from the DMLE to collect?" That would do the trick about naming The Order, in theory.

"Oh sure, just have them come by around midnight, I'll still be here. I've discovered this most wonderful muggle drink, it's called espresso, it's a great pick me up." Indeed Luna had consumed more than few shots of the coffee drink on this longest of Mondays.

"It's good stuff I know. Thanks again Luna, I appreciate it."

"You're welcome Harry, be good." She cut the connection, and Harry turned back to Kinglsey

"Satisfied?"

"Quite." But enough damage had been done to make Kingsley wonder just how organized Harry and company were, this would need some increased scrutiny on his part.

"So what about the Malfoys?"

"Catch them doing something illegal and we'll have something to go on. Just accusing you of being a nutter isn't illegal."

"They smeared The Minister pretty badly too."

"Again, not illegal, however much we'd like to punish them for it. That would smack a little too much of Fudge-like times if you ask me. No Harry, let's see how your rebuttal Quibbler goes tomorrow and take it from there. Give me a call on the floo late afternoon and we'll talk about the next step."

"Fair enough, thanks for your time." This was said with more politeness than Harry was feeling at present, but he was all too aware that he had taken his monthly limit of shots at Kingsley, and then some. He got up, and after the ritual of hand shaking, Katie and Oliver followed over to the floo fireplace.

"I owe you guys dinner, let's head back to the house and wait for Neville and we'll go out."

Katie and Oliver were amenable to that plan, and the Quidditch branch of The Order took the floo back to Grimmauld Place.

Flashback a bit earlier to Malfoy Manor:

"Good afternoon Thomas, having a nice day so far?"

There was no answer because Dean was rather tied up at present. Literally.

"I'll take that as a yes. Your information is making it's way through Diagon and Knockturn Alleys now, response seems to be good, you should be pleased. No?"

The look on Dean's face was one of pure hatred, which only made Draco's smile grow.

"Oh come now Thomas, you wanted revenge on Potter for stealing Weasley from you and you got it. We just had to make sure that you didn't go running to him and claiming Imperious. That will teach you to abuse fire whiskey in the future won't it?" Draco lazily waved his wand, and Dean's gag fell off………..he was only gagged to irritate him, since there was absolutely no one within hearing range who was willing to help him.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!!" It did no good of course, but it made him feel a little better.

"Please Thomas, yelling at me does you no good, and you're not a powerful enough Wizard to get out of here by yourself. Are you?"

Dean's reply was unprintable in a profanity-free tale.

"Now that was not very nice, but I suppose I deserve it. I can promise you one thing: You will get out of here alive, and in one piece. You'll be Obliviated of course, so you won't remember a thing. Crucio!"

Dean had barely registered the Obliviation part, which had not been mentioned before, when Draco hit him with a 10 second blast of Cruciatus. Dean's screams were music to his torturer's ears, but…….

"That's enough for now, I don't want to get too in love with hurting you, I might not be willing to let you go. Maybe I'll have Father use Imperious on you, get you to do something horrible to your ex-girlfriend. Hmmm……that's a thought." He turned around, and cackling all the while, exited the room. Dean just sat there, ruminating on the problems that alcohol had caused him, all the while wondering if really was going to get out of here alive.

Tuesday, August 18, 1999

The Quibbler: Special Edition, was released at open of business in Diagon Alley. The issue, like The True Voice, was free, but only because Harry subsidized the printing costs out of his own pocket. Luna, her father, and the other Quibbler employees donated a day of their time to the cause, and it was the first time that The Quibbler, a monthly, came out in consecutive days.

It was a spirited defense of The Boy Who Lived, The Boy Who Killed Twice, and all of Harry's other nicknames over the years, including the one he hated most: The Chosen One. These articles, unlike the ones in The True Voice, did have bylines, and the highlight was the one by Harry, who talked about his year long plus sleeping problems and the steps he took to solve them. It was a startlingly frank account of the cost of heroism, and a peek inside Harry Potter that few outside his inner circle had ever gotten a glimpse of before. All throughout the day people came into WWW, which most of magical Britain assumed to be a Harry-owned operation, to express support for him, both of the verbal kind and the economic kind, as floor manager Ron was kept hopping pretty much all day, a day that was financially the best single day in the short history of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Harry, Oliver, and Katie were oblivious to the goodwill for the course of their morning, being hip deep in their hardest practice yet. Manager Clive gave our boy an approving nod at the beginning of the sweat-a-thon, but otherwise said nothing directly. The Puddlemere team already liked Harry quite a bit anyway, both on a personal level and the fact that he was one for one in Snitch catching, but everyone made a point afterward of coming up and expressing their support for him and his situation. The team was old enough, and foreign enough, that only Oliver, Katie, and former Ravenclaw Chaser/Captain/Yule Ball Date for Fleur Roger Davies had even met him before the first practice, but in all Harry was very pleased that his teammates seemed to be taking to him.

That said, it had really helped that he caught the Snitch on Sunday.

Today was normally a Teddy day, but Harry postponed his visit so that he could troll around Diagon Alley for the afternoon and see what was going on. First stop was WWW:

An exhausted Ron was smiling in spite of himself as Harry walked into the store, by himself. Harry wondered what Ron's reaction would have been if Hermione had been with him, but since she wasn't, the redhead was all smiles:

"You need to write more articles for The Quibbler mate, there must have been over 100 people mentioning what you said." That was a low estimate too.

"It's going over well? I was at practice all morning so I'm kind of out of the loop."

"Oh hell yes it's going over well, whosever idea it was to get that rebuttal out there is a genius."

"Amen to that." This was George, just coming back into the shop himself.

"You did some rounds of the Alleys?"

"Just now yeah, everyone's reading The Quibbler, just like yesterday they were reading the Malfoy trash. It's all about publicity I tell you."

"I guess it's way too much to hope that you ran into any Malfoys or their buddies?" He figured that George would have led with that, and was not surprised to see his friend shaking his head in the negative.

"A bit much yeah, I'd be shocked if they're not laying low today, or even the rest of the week. I'm not a muggle pollster, but I'd say you blunted any rise in their popularity."

"WE blunted them, not me, this was a group effort."

Ron and George were now both shaking their heads, George speaking first.

"No Harry my boy, it was your article that did the trick. I mean sure, we helped and all, but it was what you wrote that's making the difference. The others were glorified filler, however well written some of them were. Okay, you and Luna did most of it, that girl is amazing." He had a big grin on his face, and Ron was nodding his head in total agreement.

Harry was now vividly remembering that Luna had a bit of a thing for one-eared Weasleys, but somehow kept that little detail to himself.

"At least tell me she's gotten some sleep."

"A nap, or so she claims, she's still wired on that espresso stuff she's bragging about. They've sold out of yesterday's real Quibbler too, so they're printing another run as we speak. I guess people think you might have written something in that too, I don't know."

Harry was very pleased that Luna and her father would do well out of all this, if for nothing else than to compensate them for all the work they'd done. He chatted with the brothers for a few more minutes, and then made his way to the bank.

Or tried to make his way to the bank, it was rather slow going as people kept stopping him to talk about The Quibbler. He signed more than a few copies of it, and was having Lockhart flashbacks all the while. But he did it with a smile, turning into the politician that he had always been suspicious of……..but a type that he now had a better understanding of. After about 40 minutes of this he made it to Gringotts and Bill's office. He recounted his Ron/George talk, and Bill was all smiles.

"It's like that here too, pretty much every one of Gringott's human personnel, at least the ones based here in London, has made a point to come up to me or Fleur so far today expressing their support, even a few that I was sure were pro-Death Eater back in the day."

"Maybe they still are." Harry was sure that there would be at least one fake turncoat offer coming his or Bill's way in the next few days, the Malfoys trying to slip a ringer in amongst them. Bill seemed a bit distracted though:

"Could be, you never know." He turned to make sure that the door was closed, it was just the two of them at the moment, Fleur was out on bank business.

"Here's what I don't get Harry, what kind of cachet do the Malfoys have that makes them leaders for this new movement? They failed, spectacularly I might add, at what they were supposed to do the last time. I imagine they're blaming the whole thing on Voldemort not listening to them or some such crap, but how is it that people are buying it?"

Harry had talked of this quite a bit with Neville over the weeks, and even a little bit with Hermione in the last days, so he had a ready-made theory.

"There was a vacuum Bill, nothing more than that, a leadership vacuum. There is always going to be a pro-Dark section of our population and they need people to lead them by the nose, more so than our side. The Malfoys saw that need and exploited it, they're not as dumb as we'd like them to be."

"That's a good theory, I like it. I think in some ways it will be better than before, because they don't have the power that your old buddy Voldemort had………but by the same token, if they're patient enough, they'll be able to dig roots even further into our society. If I'm the Malfoys, I'm planning on a long campaign, years even, so that by the time Gawain Robards and Kingsley are able and willing to do battle, it'll be the much harder to dislodge them."

"I'm with you on that, but you don't know Draco and Lucius like I do, they just won't have the patience needed to do that. They'll start off that way sure, but eventually their lust for power and control will force their hands."

Bill then chose to revisit, for whatever reason, Ron's idea of the first Order meeting.

"Maybe you should challenge them, or you and I should. You and I against Draco and Lucius. We could end this thing before it even began." He sounded only a little reluctant when he said it, but Harry immediately wanted no part of it.

"It's already begun, you're not the one being called a dangerous psychopath in print. And therein lies the problem, what happens if we win? What have we proved, other than that we're better fighters? Sure, I happen to think we would wipe the floor with them, any combination of you, me, Fleur, Neville, and Hermione would. But all we would do is prove to a lot of people out there that violence is the only way to solve problems."

Any concerns Bill had about Harry, and there were a couple percolating in the back of his mind, were finally put to rest after hearing that. He did have one other question though:

"You mind telling me something, in strictest confidence?"

"Um, sure." He knew he wouldn't like this, and was quickly proven correct.

"Was it Wallging who told you about The True Voice?" Bill knew Harry's account manager to say hello to but nothing more, the goblin was part of the younger breed and had specifically requested Harry's dealings be assigned to him, liking the challenge.

"I can't say yes to that, but I also won't lie." Which Bill took to mean that he wasn't saying no.

"Let's say, for a minute, that he did……it's a good sign Harry, that means the goblins aren't holding it against you what happened with the vault."

"Doesn't seem like it, assuming that he told me anything."

Again, Bill noted that Harry wasn't saying no, and now declined to push his friend any further on the subject. Besides, Harry had bigger fish to fry.

"So how much of a problem is Ginny going to be?"

"About you and Hermione?"

No, about the striking railroad workers.

"Yes indeed. Now I know she's going to be a problem of some sort, but it would help prevent any more grey hair if I could gauge how big."

"You and Hermione didn't waste much time once she was free of Ron." Bill didn't really care about this either way, except for the problems it caused, but he wanted to see what Harry's response would be.

"We've known each other for almost eight years, that's not time enough?"

"Look, I'm really not trying to pry here, and gossipy details aren't my bag anyway."

"I know Bill, but you also haven't answered my question."

"I think if she was going to try to hurt you, it would have happened Sunday. That said, I would expect a different kind of response to be forthcoming soon, but the method is unclear to me right now."

"A prank?"

In fact Bill thought it would involve Neville, but was unwilling to speculate out loud.

"Don't put me in this position Harry, I beg you. You may be in the right, but Ginny's my sister. Look, I don't have any real insight into her anyway, I moved out when she was barely old enough to talk in complete sentences. Heck, I only know Ron better because he hid out at my place during Hallows year." An uncomfortable time to be sure, and Fleur had always been a little cool toward Ron ever since.

"I'm not putting you in any position Bill, I would prefer that nothing happen at all. Okay, tell me this: How's your Mum reacting?" Harry remembered all too well the tiny Easter egg that Hermione had gotten during Fourth Year after Rita Skeeter had dug her claws in.

"I have no idea, and that's the truth."

Harry now was beginning to sense that he wasn't going to get any Weasley insight from the scion of the family, but was content in the knowledge that at least Ron wasn't being a git. So he again shifted subject, to Dean this time. He summarized his, Oliver's, and Katie's activities of the previous day, finishing with:

"So either he's been kidnapped, or he's in hiding, it's got to be one or the other."

"Which do you think it is?"

"I honestly don't know, and that bugs me more than a little bit."

"The uncertainty of it all."

"Probably. What do you think?"

"Well I don't know Dean like you do, so it's hard to say. If I had to be a Knut, it would be on the kidnapping, but that's just a gut feeling. You should get word to Seamus about all this, make sure that he's on his guard."

"Oliver sent him an owl before practice this morning." Harry had still not replaced Hedwig, and had no intention of doing so anytime soon. He didn't really NEED an owl anyway, and he could always rent one from Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade if it came to it.

"Good thinking. How are your teammates reacting to being part of the drama?"

"They seem to dig it, I think Oliver in particular likes being more proactive and part of the solution and all that. Katie is along to make sure he doesn't do anything foolish, and to kibitz." Given various work schedules, Harry realized that the three of them were likely to be teammates in Order business as well as Quidditch, but it was not so bad because Oliver didn't try to take over or anything of the like.

Fleur never did make an appearance, and Harry left a little while later. He debated on whether to go visit Arthur, but decided that life was too short to go through a Ginny conversation after such a stressful start to his week. So instead he dropped by Teddy's, where he spent a few minutes filling in Andromeda. She hadn't seen either The True Voice or The Quibbler, she only went to Diagon Alley once a week at most, and was aghast at everything that was going on in her absence.

"My idiot sister and her arrogant husband……I swear Harry, the best decision I ever made was to marry a muggleborn, if only to have that lot out of my life." She said this in a very exasperated way.

"Do you blame them for Ted?" While they hadn't actually killed Ted, they had been fully in support of the policies that had led to his death. She confirmed this:

"Yes I do, even if they were hell bent on muggleborn eradication, they could have let him emigrate or something like that. I know I begged him to, but he said it would all blow over and get back to normal."

Harry had been reading a lot of muggle history in the last few weeks, and he was having chilling flashbacks now to books he had read on The Holocaust. Andromeda taught social studies in a muggle primary school, so he assumed that she had to have made the connection as well.

"Well I wanted to keep you up-to-date and all that. If you have any concerns about Teddy, please tell me, I'll make sure that there's no danger involved for him." Kingsley had dropped him a note, via Puddlemere, about his Teddy parading, and for once Harry had been very abashed. He had vowed to change his ways immediately, and part of his full disclosure to Andromeda was telling her about that. The only thing he had not shared with her was just how organized the new Order was, or that it was even officially out of mothballs. He had a sneaking suspicion that she blamed The Order, and Dumbledore in particular, for her daughter's death. He didn't necessarily agree or disagree with that belief, if true, but he could sure see it from her point of view.

"I know you won't, though perhaps more of your outings with him could be at Hogwarts. We know it's safe there."

"Our little guy around all those students though?"

"Well stick to Hermione's office at first, he won't know the difference really."

They shared a smile, and Harry left the house after his visit with a sense of relief that she wasn't going to be a problem. It had been a long day already, and so he decided to just go up to Hogwarts and lounge around while Hermione did her lesson plans. She was doing this for hours every afternoon and evening now:

"But Harry, I need to be ready, this is very important."

"You really don't have this stuff memorized by now?" He seemed to recall that she studied History of Magic more than any other subject back in the day.

"Oh shut it." Not said in a mean way though, she could tell he was trying to get her goat, she was still smiling a lot more than she used to. They ate dinner and then Harry read while she worked. It was nothing terribly romantic, they were still working up to that, but it was very companionable.

Meanwhile, at Malfoy Manor:

Draco read The Quibbler: Special Edition, with a vast sense of amusement. It helped that he read it out loud to Dean while he did it, his former schoolmate was gagged again so as not to interrupt.

"I have to say Thomas, I'm impressed that they could get it out so quickly. I assumed that they would get an advance copy of our epistle somehow, but I wasn't expecting such a lightning response."

Dean, by now, had given up trying to say anything through his gag, and just resigned himself to listening to Draco's monologue.

"To tell you the truth my friend, I kind of wish that things had turned out differently with Potter, his story really is quite compelling. Of course he's arrogant and foolhardy, but it's all a product of how he was handled once he got here to our little world. I've always regretted that I didn't push harder for him to join us instead of Weasley and his threadbare ilk. What a waste, a pity that he'll have to be killed off eventually."

Dean's eyes went wide at hearing that, forgetting for a moment that he was to be Obliviated of all of this knowledge……..the Obliviation being why Draco was using him as his silent sounding board, as it were.

"Oh don't worry, he'll be disgraced first probably. You and little Ginny will be cozy as anything before Potter's body is cold, I promise. Crucio!"

A bit abrupt, but the screaming through the gag did send Draco's heart aflutter. He held the curse for about five seconds, and then let up. He didn't want to inflict any permanent damage on his old schoolmate, just in case the young man was given anything resembling a thorough physical exam at St. Mungo's after he was found.

After a few more Ginny related taunts, Draco left the guest room in search of his father. He found him in the study, a copy of The Quibbler: Special Edition in front of him, with a piece of parchment to the side where Lucius had been taking copious notes.

"Done tormenting our guest?"

"For the time being, it was getting boring. Taking the Lovegood rag rather serious aren't you?"

"As serious as need be. It seems that our plan is working."

"Yes it does Father, and that's what worries me a little bit." He hadn't admitted to as much in front of Dean of course.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean that whatever else he has been over the years, Potter has never been truly predictable, he has always been a wild card. Now this might be because of those muggles raising him, or Black's influence, or perhaps something we're not aware of……..but this is the first time we've been able to really figure out what he's going to do, and that coincidence bothers me not a little bit."

"And here I thought that Potter was the paranoid one."

"Just being careful Father, nothing wrong with that."

Lucius just sighed, and put down his quill for a tick.

"No there is not, and I'm glad that you are being forward looking like you are. Remember, this is only the beginning though, plenty of time for Potter to throw a twist at us."

"Do you really think he's leading them?"

"Probably not, at least not out front. I would imagine Neville Longbottom, or perhaps Bill Weasley will be the front man. But Potter will make the decisions, he will be too wary of repeating past mistakes. But remember, this is what we want."

Thursday, August 21, 1999

12:40 pm

Muggle Affairs Office, Ministry of Magic

Harry had hitched up his pants, strapped on his patience, and decided to resume the weekly lunches with Arthur, Ginny, and Percy. He felt that it would be best for The Order, even if the path of least resistance was far more inviting. Fortunately Percy did most of the talking, there were several interesting cases come down the pipe at The Wizengamot, and he gave out as many details as he could get away with.

For her part, Ginny would barely acknowledge Harry's presence, concentrating on her fish and chips, and what Percy was gabbing about. Arthur looked somewhat nervous, though Harry was unclear whether or not that had anything to do with him.

Soon Percy left, very important meetings to get to, or so he said, and Ginny was out the door seconds later, not even bothering to throw Harry a dirty look. He turned to Arthur, it was just the two of them now.

"Should I be relieved or concerned about all that?"

Arthur himself was somewhat relieved, but wanted no part of getting in the middle of all that.

"I don't know Harry, it will all sort itself out in time I'm sure."

"What about you, are you pissed that I'm dating your son's ex-girlfriend?"

"I can't see how it's any of my business, you and Hermione should do what makes you happy."

"So why are you looking so tense?"

The door was closed, Ginny had closed it, and Arthur waived his wand at it, locking it.

"Kingsley has been asking questions about The Order."

"Come again?"

"He was very impressed about how organized our response was, and seems to think that The Order has been restarted in some fashion. And this morning McGonagall asked me the same thing, in almost the same words. It's clear they've been talking."

Oh bugger, Harry thought.

"What the hell is he playing at?"

"I don't know, and what's more, I don't know if he's on our side any longer."

"So there's three sides to this thing now? Us, The Ministry, and the Malfoys?"

"It's looking more and more like that, yes. How sure are you of Grimmauld Place?"

"I sweep it every evening before I go to bed, at least the main areas." It was ten minutes out of his night, but he felt it was worth the time and effort.

"And no Ministry employees besides Neville, Ginny, Percy, and myself have been by?"

"As far as I know, no one outside The Order and Kreacher have been in that house in years."

"Well I'm not going to tell you who to invite over, but you should probably keep it that way."

"I agree completely."

Arthur was brought up short, he wasn't used to Harry's unqualified agreement, but he rallied, and relayed the substance of his Wednesday breakfast with Gawain Robards, ending with:

"He was pleased with The Quibbler, he even mentioned Percy's article specifically." The one which defended Robards himself, and both Arthur and Harry shared a smile.

"Poor Percy, his ambition will always fuel him a little too much. Still, it was for a good cause, and I thought it was pretty good writing." Harry sounded genuine with the last compliment, as he stood up to go.

"A compliment from The Minister can only do us good, and he does seem like a good man."

They shook hands, and Harry opened the door to leave. He felt a tingle in the back of his mind, and his wand was halfway out his pocket already when he saw the red hair come around the corner, their wand already out and firing:

"Expelliarmus!"

End Chapter


	10. Betrayal

Author's Note: One of the television highlights of my existence are The Olympics, so the chances of the next chapter being up before the end of Beijing 2008 are quite remote. I'm sure you all understand.

Thursday, August 21, 1999, continued

Ministry of Magic, Muggle Affairs Department

1:30 pm

"Expelliarmus!"

The spell was pretty well aimed, indicating that coming around the corner was a planned kind of thing, but the tickle in Harry's mind had made him ready:

"Protego Gestra" A basic shield combined with a Rebounding Charm, causing the spell to go right back at the person.

Who it turned out was one Ginevra Weasley.

Harry's big magic project over his sleep deprived final year at Hogwarts was doing his spell, curses, and whatnot as quietly as humanly possible, so as not to tip off his opponent to what was coming. This came in handy right about now as an astonished Ginny had her wand yanked out of her grasp and headed right to Harry's left hand, where he caught it with smooth dexterity, his own wand dissolving his shield.

"Petrificus Totalus." This was spouted as soon as his hand clenched around Ginny's wand, and she was quickly down for the count. One more thing:

"Rictusempra."

That was not done silently, as Harry wanted her to know what was coming, his anger just now starting to boil over, even if only a little bit.

All of this took place in less than five seconds, and it took that long for Arthur to come out from behind his desk and into his doorway, unfortunately without a drawn wand.

Well, unfortunately for Arthur anyway, as Harry now turned attention to him:

"Raise your hands very slowly Arthur, no sudden moves." His voice was filled with some justifiable anger, and Arthur instinctively started to raise them, but then stopped as he took in the situation to it's full extent.

"Harry…….." That's as far as he got before Harry interrupted him.

"Raise your bloody hands Arthur, or my next words will be a curse firing at you!" The look on Harry's face would have quailed most people, and while Arthur was as willing to test Harry as the next man, he still did as ordered.

"So this is why you looked so nervous during lunch, you knew she was planning this!" His head was jerking back and forth between Ginny, still on the ground and twitching, and Arthur……..and mentally he was fully expecting Percy to appear any second.

"I swear to you that I didn't Harry." Arthur might as well have been speaking in Norwegian for all the good it did him.

"Yeah right, I knew this was going too easily, I knew it. Kreacher!"

CRACK!

Kreacher came in, took one look at the situation at hand, and adopted the largest smile that Harry had ever seen on a house elf.

"Yes Master, what does Master need from Kreacher?" He sure sounded happy too, he had never much cared for the Weasleys as a clan.

"Go get Kingsley Shacklebolt and get him over here, then immediately go to Hogwarts and fetch Hermione Granger, tell her to floo directly into Arthur Weasley's office. Go now." Harry usually treated Kreacher with kid gloves, but these were Master/Servant tones, and Kreacher hopped right to it.

CRACK!

"Accio Wand!" Were Harry's next words, as Arthur's wand flew into the same hand that held his daughter's, it had previously still been in his right pocket, the elder Weasley not daring to put either of his hands down.

"Now, let's try this again, what did you know, and when did you know it?" Only slightly less hostility, not that that was saying much.

"I told you Harry, I had nothing to do with this. If she had told me that she was planning anything, I would have stopped her." Arthur's tone was one of sadness, as if he knew that this was not going to end well for any of them.

"Liar, like you would choose me over your own daughter. I'm somewhat part of the family, but I'm not your flesh and blood."

All too true, and now Arthur finally realized just how much danger he was in at present.

"I would have been doing it for my daughter Harry, that's why I would have stopped her. She had no right to attack you, no good reason. I would have stopped it to prevent this scene from happening." One can only wonder what Ginny, lying prone on the ground being tickled half to death, thought of her father's words…….though Arthur wouldn't be wondering too much later that afternoon.

Harry was unsure of what to do here, part of him badly wanted to open fire and force the breach between himself and the Weasleys once and for all, instead of all this tip-toeing around. But the main part of him didn't want to lose Ron, George, or Bill from his life, or Fleur for that matter. He knew that he could get away with nailing Ginny, magically anyway, after what she did to him, but firing on a defenseless Arthur would cross a line that would be hard to cross back.

Arthur saw the indecision on Harry's face and prayed that Kingsley or Hermione would get here soon and calm him down. He was rewarded as the floo in his office fired, and Hermione came tumbling out, just as Kingsley and Gawain Robards ran around the corner, in concert with Kreacher cracking in, with a very self satisfied smile on his ugly little face.

"Master's commands were followed to the letter." Rather obvious that, but Harry wasn't about to start complaining.

"Thank you Kreacher." Kreacher made no move to leave, and Harry was now too distracted to give him any further orders.

The three newcomers, followed closely by Kingsley flunkies Maher and Pullman, all crowded into the narrow hallway to bear witness to our scene:

Harry Potter, his own wand drawn on Arthur Weasley, with Ginny Weasley lying on the ground, frozen but for the twitching she was still doing, and both Weasley wands in Harry's left hand. Kingsley found his voice first.

"Harry, you want to tell us what's going on here?" Said in Kingsley's usual calm, deep voice. The reply was anything but calm:

"Sure, I'll be happy to: My ex-girlfriend took leave of what was left of her senses and attacked me as I left her father's office! Oh, I'm sorry, INCOMPETENTLY attacked me, resulting in her being on the ground like she is, all this after we shared a meal for 45 minutes without a cross word!. Her father may or may not have come to his door to finish the job, so I thought it best to call for the cavalry."

Speaking of the cavalry:

Hermione wanted to start crying for a brief moment, if this is what things had come to. She had been preparing herself for a Weasley breach for weeks, but was suddenly very depressed that her plans would actually come to fruition.

Kingsley didn't know whether to start laughing or cursing, his mouth was twitching in some fashion anyway. He managed to calm it down after a few seconds and adopted a generic look of concern.

Maher and Pullman, who had spent time with Harry on a few instances, including the Dean business on Monday, were fully in sympathy with him, and now prepared to arrest Ginny if their boss gave them the signal.

Gawain Robards just looked at Arthur:

"Do you have anything you would like to add?"

"Sir, I was not coming out to finish anything off, I heard the attack and wanted to see what the hubbub was about, hoping my ears were deceiving me. They weren't. As I told Harry, I did not know that anything was going to happen like it did, not today or any other day."

Harry still looked dubious at the veracity of that story, but chose not to call Arthur a liar to his face in front of so many people. Kingsley waved his wand at Ginny, and the Full Body Bind was taken off her, and the Tickling Charm was as well. She slowly got her feet as Kingsley made no further move to help her.

"Ginny, do you deny the accusations?"

It took her a minute to find her voice, she was rather out of breath from the long Tickliing Charm, but once she did:

"No I don't Kingsley, Minister. I'm sorry but I just snapped, I spent an entire lunch with that cretin only to have him totally ignore me, less than a week after he comes out and acknowledges that he's now having a fling with my brother's ex. If you ask me, he had it coming." No Weasley, save George perhaps, had Ginny's bravado and self confidence, and they were in full force here. At least she didn't have the brass to demand that Harry be arrested for his magical response.

Nope, no remorse, Harry thought, not that he expected anything of the kind, and Harry was hard pressed not to say something nasty in response. But one look at Hermione convinced him to take the high road.

"Well there you have it, I was attacked right here in the Ministry, yet again, and by a Ministry employee no less. I demand satisfaction."

He let that let sentence marinate a little, without explanation, enjoying the horrified expression on Arthur's face, and the nearly equal one on Ginny's visage, as she finally figured out just how angry he was. Robards, who had no overt truck in this fight either way, was the first to say it:

"What exactly do you mean by that Harry?"

"I mean that if she is not punished to my satisfaction, I will be happy to take on the task myself. I can't even go into a government office without fear that my life might be in danger, an example needs to be set." He tried not to sound too self righteous, but it was definitely a fine line.

Robards' expression didn't change a bit, as he looked at Kingsley.

"Take Miss Weasley into custody, pending assault charges. Arthur, I will take you at your word that you knew nothing about this ahead of time. I'm sure you have a comfortable conversation with your wife upcoming, feel free to floo to your home and have it now if you like. Harry, Hermione, please join me in my office." Robards, unbeknownst to Harry, had been at Hogwarts a little while earlier for lunch, where he had had brief chat with Hermione, putting him on a first name basis with her.

He hadn't raised his voice at all, just a conversational tone, but a Minister's voice doesn't need to be raised, at least not this one's, and Kingsley led Ginny off to the DMLE, while Arthur, in something of a daze, went into his office to floo Molly. Harry and Hermione obediently followed Robards upstairs to his own office, no conversation taking place on the walk over.

Once inside and sat down, Robards got right to the point:

"Okay Harry, exactly what are you expecting us to do to her, in order to 'satisfy' you, as you put it. I'm not saying you'll get it of course, not necessarily, but I would like to hear what you're after."

Now Harry was in a pickle, he hadn't really thought that far ahead, assuming that he would be given options or something like that. He desperately wanted to ask for a few moments to talk to Hermione first, but thought that that tack would give the wrong idea, especially to a man that he not-so-subconsciously wanted to impress. He was The Minister after all. He made a quick decision.

"Suspend her without pay for a week and put a letter of reprimand into her personnel file. But if she comes after me again, in any way, I'll put her in St. Mungo's. Permanently."

That last part chilled Hermione, who had been thinking of one scenario over and over on the walk up to the office:

What if Ron had attacked her in a similar manner? What would she have done?

Meanwhile Robards just smiled at the demand, or request perhaps, since Harry's voice was quite polite.

"And that would be the end of it for you?"

"Of course not, trust has been breached, a friendship ended, if not more than one. But legally, and magically, that's what would settle it in my mind."

"And if I don't go along with this? What will you do?" He was very interested in the answer, if only to be understand his opponent.

"Off the top of my head? I'll probably wait for her after work one day, perhaps not today, and force an apology out of her with my wand…….and let's note that my terms for you punishing her did not include one of those." An apology he meant, and that gave Hermione a bit of a start, as she had noticed that little detail.

"Duly noted yes. So no further attacks on her if I go along with the suspension?"

"Yes, if she does the same."

"Oh I think she's learned her lesson, one would think that she has no battle experience at all. Okay Harry, your terms weren't too stringent, so I'll sign off on them. Her suspension will start Monday and last the week, she can spend tomorrow cleaning up any loose ends."

"Thank you sir."

"In exchange I want you to tell me all about The Order of the Phoenix."

"Excuse me?" Harry stopped just short of a fake cough, just.

"You heard me, it's up and running again and I want to know about it."

"What makes you think that sir?"

It was said with convincing innocence, but Robards wasn't buying it.

"Come now Harry, you clearly don't have any political minds in your group, or you would have realized that your Quibbler response was a little too quick and well planned."

Again, Harry was put in a position where he did not want to get caught in a lie later on. Again, without directly looking at Hermione:

"It's a small, ad-hoc group of myself and my closest friends. The only Hogwarts and Ministry personnel are Hermione and myself, and the three Weasleys, though that last part might change, you never know. We aren't plotting any coups, unlike some we might mention, we're just keeping the circle small for the time being."

"Dare I ask if anything illegal has been contemplated?"

"Contemplated is not the word I would use." More politician speak, or lawyer-ese perhaps, but Harry was liking it.

"What word would you use then?"

"We have a free-flowing exchange of ideas, where we are allowed to say what we think, as long as it doesn't leave the room. No illegal deeds have left the room, as it were."

"Okay, but if your group expands, you're going to keep me informed about it, aren't you?"

Harry had to admire the way he was being played here, and he was all too aware that he had been on the defensive since the moment he had entered this office. He knew that the smart thing to have done was let Ginny off with a warning and be done with it, but it was almost like he had been ensnared in a tricky little web.

"If anyone from Hogwarts, Gringotts, or The Ministry is asked to join us, I will make sure you know about it." The three main institutions in magical Britain, and he hoped that it would be enough. It was.

"And if anyone leaves, or is, shall we say……..forcibly removed."

"That too, as long as I'm not asked to provide transcripts."

"As long as you remember to tread very carefully when it comes to Malfoy confrontation. I didn't like what they wrote about either of us, but the problem with taking the high road, is that you often have to pretend that you're too high to see certain things. Do we understand one another Harry?" He hadn't addressed Hermione since they entered the office, nor had Harry.

"We understand each other perfectly sir."

"Excellent, now if you'll hand me Ginny's wand, I'll make sure that she gets it back before the end of the day. As for Arthur's……..would you like to give it to him?"

"No thank you sir, but if I may ask for one small favor?"

"Shoot."

"I would like to see Neville Longbottom and explain the situation to him. He's my housemate and just as involved here as Hermione and I are, and I would rather he didn't hear this from anyone but me."

Robards had been expecting something to do with Percy, but recovered quickly and nodded.

"That's doable, sure, I'll have my aide escort the two of you over to the training classroom." He stood up, as if dismissing them, and Harry and Hermione did the same.

"Thank you Minister."

"You're welcome Harry, be good." Robards had an enigmatic smile on his face with that last salvo, but Harry merely smiled politely in return and nodded.

The aide, whose name Harry forgot as soon as it was told to him, escorted Harry and Hermione over to the training classroom, where Neville was discreetly retrieved and filled in on the day's events. His first question was one that Hermione had been waiting ten minutes to ask Harry:

"Why did you tell him about The Order?"

Harry first swept the surrounding area for Listening Charms, and though he found none, he still kept him voice quite low, forcing the other two to almost huddle up with him.

"Because I couldn't risk him hearing about it from Ginny or Percy and knowing I lied to him. I don't mind the idea of lying to him in general, but there's going to be more at stake when I do it. Besides, he was right, we were too quick to respond, and that's more my fault that anyone's, but the milk is still on the ground."

Hermione couldn't fight off a smile now, and even start laughing a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Our political Harry, this is something I thought I would never see."

"Are you complaining?"

"Not at all, I love it. And you."

Neville just shook his head ruefully.

"Enough of that you two. Now what do we do? Do we force things with them?"

Harry was still undecided about that, and continuing the political theme of the conversation, decided to do some more polling.

"Hermione, you're going to The Quibbler to fill in Luna and see where she stands, I'll deal with Gringott's and WWW."

"You think any of the other Weasleys will stand with us?"

This was Neville, and now more than ever Harry knew that his friend was with him.

"Fleur will, she's never liked Ginny, and Bill will go along with her. Ron and George……well I'll settle for a lack of hostility. Hermione, just make sure that Luna is on the team. I know we can count on Oliver and Katie, so I'll wait until tomorrow to fill them in."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go back to class Neville, and despite the fact that I've been nudging you toward Ginny for the last month, don't bring her into our home unless it's an emergency."

Neville was very flattered to hear that it was 'our home' and not 'my home', leaving aside that it had sure sounded like an order.

"Of course not, and I'm kind of cooling off on my interest in her now that you mention it. A bit too volatile for me it seems, wouldn't want any repercussions if we break up or anything."

Harry just laughed, and soon he and Hermione were on their separate ways. They would meet back at Hogwarts after their tasks were done.

His first stop was the bank, and he requested that Fleur come down to the floor, saying that it was a family emergency. Which it rather was. She was down in a minute flat, and listened in astonishment as Harry told his tale.

"Why that petulant little child! You should have punished her much more than you did Harry my friend, a lesson seems necessary, no?"

"I didn't have much time to think about it Fleur, kind of spur of the moment. Besides, Arthur was behind me and I needed to be ready for him."

"Oh he is no worry, he is too intimidated by you to try to attack you."

Boo-ya touchdown, or so Harry might have thought if he had ever watched Sportscenter. He was hoping for at least one nugget of insight from Fleur, and he had most certainly gotten it.

"I didn't want to risk hurting him, or making things worse."

"Well she attacked you Harry, I am forced to wonder how much worse things can get."

Harry's head was buzzing now, even just five minutes into this conversation with this most beautiful of women, so he cut to the chase.

"Where do you stand Fleur?"

"Well of course I am with you against Ginny, but I will not take a position against my husband. Let us go and see him shall we?"

"You lead I'll follow." He said, praying that Bill would have the same attitude as his wife.

The man himself was hip deep in paperwork as they got to the office, he was being considered for another promotion and the goblins wanted to see how he dealt with the paper flow before giving it to him. One look at his shocked face, as Harry told the story yet again, informed our boy that Arthur hadn't gotten there first.

Which meant that he had likely gone to or called WWW first, but Harry felt that the key visit would be this one. He even told him about his pseudo-deal with Robards, something he was planning to leave out if he managed the spiel again with Ron and George. Bill just covered his head with his hands and moaned.

"My God."

"That was my feeling pretty much, I honestly never thought she'd do it."

Bill finally looked up, saw that his wife was squarely on Harry's side where he thought she would be, and temporized.

"And that's really all you did to her? You just froze her and tickled her?"

"I didn't have time to be heinous, I had your dad to worry about, and more likely Percy, though I never did see him again after it all happened."

"We're all better off that you didn't. I take it that Fleur and I are being asked to pick sides here?"

"In a nutshell yes, but only in terms of The Order. I would never ask you to betray your family or anything of the kind."

"Well when it comes to fighting and plotting against Malfoys……..oh hell, I'm with you either way. She crossed the line, and of course she didn't think of what it might do for Dad's career, or even Percy's. Damn her." He sounded so frustrated, as frustrated as Harry had ever seen him. Harry looked to the side and saw Fleur smugly smiling at him, she even threw in a wink.

"I promise Bill, I won't fire first against her."

Bill nodded in relief, as if he had been hoping for that reassurance.

"I believe you. Now let's get over to WWW and see what's going on there. I take it you won't be willing to go to The Burrow?"

"Not anytime soon, sorry. There's at least two people there wishing me harm, and maybe three." By that he meant Ginny and Percy, he was always suspicious of the Weasley oddball, and the third presumably meant Ron. Bill assumed this:

"Well let's find out sooner than later about that third. Fleur, do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course, I was due for a break anyway."

The three of them lined up and took the floo ride over to WWW, in order of oldest to youngest. Harry, though he was last, still went in with his wand drawn.

Meanwhile, Hermione was over at The Quibbler filling in Luna, who was the first to advance a particular theory:

"I think you all are taking this way too seriously. Yes, Ginny was wrong, but I doubt she would have actually tried to harm Harry. She probably just wanted him at her mercy so she could scream at him for a few minutes."

This had occurred to Hermione of course, particularly given that she had not done much talking during the Neville/Robards discussions, and thus had time to think…….as opposed to Harry, who had had no time to think and was merely reacting to the day's events. Except:

"I agree that that's all she would have done, yes. But the difference is Harry, he's been attacked or almost attacked so many times over the years that he rather takes a dim view of it now."

Luna was nodding throughout all of that.

"Yes, I can see that side of it now, and Ginny should have too. What a mess. What will you do now?" Luna was quite smart, her public persona notwithstanding, she knew what Hermione was doing here. But she wanted her friend, arguably her best friend, to say it out loud.

"If there is a schism in The Order, we want you with us."

"Who is 'us', exactly?"

"Harry, Neville, myself, and Oliver and Katie probably. Harry is at the bank now sounding out Bill and Fleur."

"Oh Fleur hates Ginny, and she will influence Bill, so that's no problem. Well yes Hermione, if Ginny or Ronald are so selfish as to put personal hurt feelings over what is best for everyone, then of course I am with you and Harry."

Not an unqualified "hell yes I'm with you to the end", but Hermione would take it. Luna had one more piece of advice:

"Get another parchment together for the next meeting, and have everyone sign it. That will reassure both sides."

"But Harry can't sign it, unless he wants to lie to The Minister."

"Oh come now Hermione, Harry doesn't trust The Minister as far as he can throw him, why would he adhere to any deal?" This was said in a gently chiding voice, as if Hermione should have thought that far ahead.

Hermione knew that Harry didn't dare trust anyone that he didn't know well and have long experience with, but would only later reflect that Luna did spend a lot of Teddy-time with Harry, and the two of them must have talked about more than the latest scoops coming up in The Quibbler.

"Fair point, but it's a slippery slope."

"Isn't everything?"

Luna was very wise, and Hermione impulsively reached out and gave her a brief hug.

"Thank you Luna."

Luna herself was unsure of why she was being thanked or hugged, but took it in the spirit in which it was being offered.

"Anytime Hermione."

Hermione left a few minutes later, not daring a trip to WWW to witness any carnage, but instead went back to Hogwarts, where she would do her best to avoid being alone with McGonagall anytime soon.

Back to WWW:

Harry emerged from the floo with his wand drawn, only to discover that it wasn't necessary. Arthur hadn't been here either, yet. So Bill and Fleur, Harry had hesitated for a few seconds before hopping into the floo, had begun telling the story for him. Harry mostly let them do it, only interrupting on the two occasions when they got details wrong.

George was giggling the entire story, only when it was done would he explain why:

"I mean honestly, that she thought she could get the drop on Harry here is just insane. Harry my boy, I have to admire your self control, I would have done a lot worse to her."

Well that was encouraging, and Harry turned to Ron……..who simply looked uncomfortable, so Harry chose to let him off the hook.

"Ron, if anyone in this situation has a right to be pissed, it's you. Yet you've behaved like more of an adult than the rest of us. If you tell me you that you knew Ginny was plotting what she plotted, I promise you I won't hold it against you."

Ron hesitated for a moment, then plunged in:

"I knew that she wanted to attack you, yeah, I guess I even knew that she was planning it. I mean not that she told me, or that I was thinking of doing the same to Hermione, but she dropped enough hints. I guess I just thought that you could handle it if it happened, then I wouldn't have either of you mad at me."

That was quite a mouthful, and the other four in the room took a few ticks to decipher it. Bill was the one who asked for the clarification:

"So you didn't know that Ginny was going to do it today?"

Harry interrupted him:

"Well the thing is Bill, I didn't floo your dad about lunch until during our break during practice, about 10:00 am. So Ginny wouldn't have known I was coming until after that." Harry himself was now trying to remember if he had been attempting a fake-out with the last minute of it all, but genuinely couldn't remember either way.

Ahhhhh, and Ron looked relieved that he was even more officially being taken off the hook. George just looked at his big brother:

"So what do we do now?"

"That depends on Ginny, and how she reacts to being suspended and all that. And yeah, and how Mum reacts. If she takes Ginny's side, then we'll have civil war on our hands. But she's always doted on Harry here, so that's a plus in our favor. Maybe she and Dad will talk Ginny into accepting defeat like a grown-up and we can all get back to what's really important."

Harry then wondered:

"I beat your dad here and to the bank, what's he been doing all this time?"

No one had a good answer to that, and no one was volunteering to floo to The Burrow to find out either, that was the only other place he could be, unless he was simply hiding out in his office. Bill looked pointedly at George, who technically speaking had a lot less skin in the game than anyone else in the room, and his one-eared sibling shrugged.

"Okay fine, I'll floo back to the homestead and see what's going on." He said it with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, but it was appreciated all around. He hopped into the floo and was off a few seconds later.

He was back in less than a minute.

"No one's home, the place is empty."

Harry had a thought.

"Did you look at the clock?" The one with every Weasley, plus Harry and Hermione for the time being, and what 'state' they were in.

George just looked at him like he wanted to smack him.

"You mean I really have to go back there? C'mon mate!"

"Well I'm not going, for all I know I'd get there right when Ginny and Percy do, and there really will be people in mortal peril."

Ron now figured that there was no harm, with an empty house, and without warning anybody, he got into the floo and was off. He too was back in about a minute:

"All our hands are where they should be, though Ginny's is vibrating a little bit. None of us are in mortal peril, so either Mum's not as mad as we thought, or Ginny's avoiding her." Both good theories, but no one had a chance to analyze them before the floo fired again, and Molly Weasley herself came tumbling out.

She brushed herself off, and took a good look at the bulk of her family.

And was not amused to see that Fleur had put her arm around Harry's shoulders, presumably as a show of solidarity, but really just Fleur making a not-so-subtle point. Harry was all for it, and made no move to shrug the arm off.

Bill was the only one with the stones to speak first, and did.

"So you know what happened?"

"Yes I do, I was just at your father's office." So Arthur was sort of hiding in his office.

"And did you see Ginny?"

It was now just over 40 minutes since Harry and Hermione had left The Muggle Affairs Department, and Arthur.

"I did, it took some time for her to be processed. Apparently if you are taken into custody, but not ultimately arrested, there are still a lot of forms to fill out."

Harry wanted nothing more in life than to take a shot right now at someone, but he saw Bill eying him warily and decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Bill continued his Q&A

"Ron just checked the clock, she's not dead." He was hoping for a smile, but it was not to be.

"No she's not, though I made it clear how disappointed I was in what she did."

Disappointed? Was that all? Harry now decided a foray into the conversation was called for.

"Is she still saying that I deserved it?"

"Yes Harry dear, she is expressing no remorse, other than that she was not more effective in her attack." A bit stilted, and Molly's facial expression was hard to read even now.

Harry still took some comfort that he was 'Harry dear', and then proceeded to wreck it:

"Does she realize that I'll kill her if she tries it again?"

Usually a threat to kill was more euphemistic in nature, but everyone in the room knew that Harry was being deadly serious.

"No Harry, she probably doesn't, but it won't come to that."

Arthur had said much the same thing, and Harry's anger finally boiled over.

"Because I will, so help me God Molly, the next person who attacks me for any reason is going six feet into the ground."

There were a number of ways that Ron in particular could have taken that, but all eyes were focused on Molly's response.

"As I said Harry dear, it won't come to that. Arthur and I will make sure of that, you have our word."

"I believe you." He didn't actually, he knew that Ginny would do exactly as she pleased. But he needed to keep his audience on his side, the killing comments had disquieted even Fleur.

"Will you bar her from your home?" Still the official Headquarters for The Order.

"Not if you and Arthur guarantee her, as you did for Percy. Socially though, she and I are finished. Any remote hope you had of me becoming a Weasley in-law like Fleur are now so much dust, or they should be."

There was no visible reaction from Molly, other than a follow up question……though everyone noticed that she had not smiled one time during this session.

"So you can separate The Order from friendship?" More than just Molly wanted to hear that answer.

"If need be, yes ma'am. I would prefer that we all be friends, but Ginny seems to have taken care of that. I'll tell you what I told Ron: If anyone has a reasonable right to want to attack someone here, it's him, but he rose above those feelings. I've never respected Ron more than right after Ginny tried to harm me." He said that last bit for two reasons: One, to continue his placating of Ron, which was definitely working. And the second was to see if Molly knew what Ginny's plans were once Expelliarmus got his wand away.

And that worked too.

"She was not going to harm you, she told her father and I that all she wanted to do was to make a point. Right there in The Ministry is not a smart place to attack someone if you truly wanted to harm them." Pure logic, but Ginny was not really that logical.

"Just remember what I said, and we'll all be fine. I'll ask Hermione to rig up another parchment for us all to sign, and then there will be no doubts about anyone's loyalty, or anyone putting hurt feelings about what is necessary." Shades of Luna that was, and Harry would be amused later to hear Hermione quoting their friend as such.

"For what it's worth Harry dear, I am sorry that it had to come to this."

"So am I Molly."

This was a hugging moment in most movies, but Molly was unsure of her ground, and Harry was just flat out uncomfortable hugging anyone not named Hermione or Teddy lately.

Fleur's arm around him didn't count. Heh heh.

Molly then decided that enough had been done and said for one day:

"Well I had better get home, much to do. Will we still have the meeting on Sunday?"

"Same time, same place. Will everyone but Ron be coming to the game on Sunday? Wouldn't want him to miss his Cannons."

This broke the tension, finally, and everyone got a chuckle in, acknowledging that, yes, they would be at the game. The irony was, the Cannons had finished the previous season with the second worst record in the league, just missing the chance to draft Harry and make Ron's life much easier than it currently was.

They all dispersed back to Gringotts for Bill and Fleur, Hogwarts for Harry, and The Burrow for Molly. Where Arthur was waiting for her.

"Well what did he say?"

"Which do you want to hear Arthur? The part where she's still in The Order if you and I guarantee her, or the part where if she, or anyone else, attacks him, he'll start killing?"

Arthur could have done without that last part, but he could hardly label that attitude a surprise.

"Were the others lined up with him?"

"They appeared to be, yes. She did cross the line, it's hard to blame any of them."

They were both silent for a moment, pondering.

"You'll talk to her again? Mother to daughter?"

"I'll try, but if she's hell bent on doing something, we won't be able to stop her."

"What if she goes after Hermione next?"

That was the question, and neither of them were willing to answer it at present.

Harry would get to Hogwarts, make a decision on the spur of the moment, and immediately floo to Oliver and Katie's flat in Edinburgh. He didn't want them thinking he was taking their allegiance for granted.

"So there you have it, things got hot and heavy, and now they seem to have cooled down."

"You'll really let her in your house?"

"What choice do I have Katie? I won here, she attacked me and I humiliated her, costing her a week's salary to boot, I can't been seen as holding too much of a grudge. It's like being up in Quidditch 400-0 and still putting your Chasers on full attack, it's just not done."

The two teammates could appreciate that analogy, and they assured Harry that they were fully on board with whatever he wanted to do.

He then repaired back to Hogwarts for a quiet evening with Hermione, where they agreed to postpone any after-action analysis until lunch the next day. They wanted to both let the events sink in, and also have some personal time just for themselves, without any palace intrigue gumming up the works.

Later than evening, on the border between Diagon and Knockturn Alleys:

Draco approached the meeting place with not a little trepidation, though he of course didn't show any fear, that wouldn't do. His contact was waiting for him.

"Everything went as we hoped, Potter is now even more on edge than before. He now knows an attack can come from anywhere."

"He doesn't suspect that you're feeding me this information?"

"Of course not, he was more interested in punishment, and fending off dangerous questions from Robards."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

"That's about the size of it, it will be the gift that keeps on giving."

"I have to hand it to you Weasley, you've played this quite nicely."

End Chapter


	11. Weeds in the Garden

Author's Note: Thank you for indulging my Olympic television marathon. I sure hope this story is done by Vancouver 2010, no promises, even though my posting pace will pick up slightly.

Thursday, August 21, 1999 continued

Knockturn Alley

9:45 pm

"I have to hand it to you Weasley, you've played this quite nicely."

"Your insight into Potter proved useful as well."

Draco, now finally comfortable, nodded as if that was his due.

"Well you haven't been around him that much over the years Percy." Emphasis on the name.

And Percy now stepped into the pale light, smug visage firmly in place in what Draco considered to be a poor imitation of his father.

"I've been around enough, and I will be from now on. They think their ineffectual little Order will make any difference."

"It's your job to make sure there's not a difference, you are officially on the inside now. You need to be sure of your loyalty Percy, because Potter will kill you if he catches you." They had been over this before, but Draco wanted there to be no doubts.

"I know what is at stake, better than you do since I'm risking more. I'm ready."

"Good."

"What will you do with Dean Thomas?" It had been Percy who had suggested Thomas as a better source of information than the equally vulnerable Seamus Finnegan.

"Oh he was released this afternoon, with a nice little memory wipe, and some other memories planted for future use. He's asleep in his flat right now probably." Yeah, not really, but Draco didn't know that.

"Does he have any subconscious instructions that I should know about?"

"He has some, yes, but none that involve you." Draco said that as if it was God's honest truth.

"Ginny?"

"Don't worry Weasley, your sister is off-limits as long as you cooperate and remember whose side you're really on."

"She had better be, she's the only other one in my hapless family worth saving."

"I couldn't agree more, though that joke shop is rather amusing. We'll meet again Sunday night after your next little Order meeting." Draco walked off without waiting for an acknowledgement from his spy, and Percy was left standing there for a moment, at a loss of what to do next.

So he merely Apparated to the edge of Ottery St. Catchpole and walked home, telling Molly and Arthur nothing of where he had been or why. He mainly lived at home for the food and that his mother cleaned up after him, not out of any familial love, though he was getting really skilled at faking it.

Dean Thomas was discovered by an Auror listening post within minutes of his return home. Kingsley had left standing instructions that Dean was to be Stunned the moment they came upon him, and brought into Auror Command for questioning. Said questioning lasted through the night, and despite the fact that the Puddlemere trio were the ones who brought Dean to Kingsley's attention in the first place, he made no effort to alert Harry.

Friday, August 22, 1999

Hermione's office at Hogwarts

Just after lunch

Harry and Hermione returned from one of the more tense lunches they had sat through in awhile. Harry ruminated that it was even more so than the one he had sat through the previous day, right before he was attacked. McGonagall had been pointedly staring at them for most of the meal, and it was only Slughorn needing to talk to her after the meal that allowed Harry and Hermione to escape without questioning.

Hermione started pacing, while Harry, still tired from a long Quidditch workout, collapsed on the sofa.

"Okay Harry, we've put this off for almost a day, now we have to deal with it."

"Deal with it? I don't see how this is a problem for the two of us, aside from the blowback." And he really didn't, the ease to which Bill and company had gone along with him on Ginny had rather put him to complacency.

"That's what I'm talking about. Are we taking this too seriously? I mean all she wanted to do was yell at you." The rule of not talking about it had not extended to exchanging synopses of what Luna and the others had said.

"That's not the point and you know it. If she wanted to scream at me all she had to do was scream at me. I probably would have let it go on for a few minutes too, if she had done it in Arthur's office, would have been healthy for her. But no one attacks me Hermione, not for any reason unless we're training or something. The line was a very large and easily seen one, and she crossed with both eyes open."

Hermione momentarily stopped her pacing and turned toward him.

"I agree, and I told Luna as much, the line was crossed. But is it worth destroying a friendship for it? Is it worth all the tension?"

Harry just shrugged.

"She thought so. Never forget darling, she fired first. This whole thing is her fault, not ours. Did you and I rush into things? No, we didn't, but I agree that it might seem to outsiders that we did. That said, it did not justify what she did. Ron…….yeah, I would react differently if he had gone nutty on us, but Ginny and I broke up months ago." He couldn't believe that he was having to justify this to Hermione of all people, and prayed mightily that she was just feeling the need to play devil's advocate.

"You seem to keep forgetting that she thought that you two were just on a hiatus."

"It was a breakup, I'm not responsible for things read between lines by someone who's verging on becoming a stalker."

And that was what was occupying Harry's mind more and more in the last 24 hours. He had reviewed his Ginny history, ever since the summer of 1992 and was becoming more and more disturbed with every passing hour. He knew that his feelings for her had been genuine at the time……..but were those feelings easy to justify because he had known that she always wanted to be with him? This was one subject that he would not muse out loud with Neville about, however fine a sounding board his housemate was.

For her part, Hermione was just playing devil's advocate, and was feeling a little guilty as well. It was clear to her that Ginny was hurting, and had been for quite awhile, and that all the Harry issues over the last few years, especially the ones involving her, had finally done their damage.

"What are you going to say to her Sunday?"

"Not a bloody thing, unless she says something first. I'm not expecting an apology, but I'm confident that her parents will keep her in line. They know what's at stake here, even if she doesn't."

"I agree, and you know I'm with you on this, all the way."

"You'd better be." He said that with a grin, and to get him back she plopped on his stomach. Hermione was very light, but so was he and it knocked a bit of wind out of him.

"Very funny. I'll work up the parchment tonight, I'll make it detailed enough that no loopholes should slip through."

"Sounds great, I really hope that it will wind up being a waste of your time."

"That would be lovely. One thing I wanted to ask you about, I'm frankly surprised Neville didn't: You said you felt a tickle of something before Ginny attacked. Could you elaborate?"

Harry didn't get a chance to reply to that because there was a knock on the door. Both knew that this wasn't good news, and Hermione looked at him.

"We could always pretend not to be here."

They both started laughing, though a bit tightly, and she got up and went over to the door, opening it.

And there stood McGonagall and Flitwick, both looking somewhat stern, and Hermione immediately surmised that this was not about Hogwarts business.

"Yes?" For lack of anything better to say, her two colleagues had not given any greetings.

Now McG spoke:

"We would like to talk with you and Harry." Lacking here was: 'If you don't mind', and Hermione knew that she had no choice.

"Of course, come in."

Harry had gotten up by now, and was standing next to her desk with his hands loosely as his sides. His previous default posture while standing had been with his hands in his pockets or behind his back, but lately he had been training himself to be ready, just in case. He adopted a big smile:

"Hello, what brings you by?" Just the right touch of bonhomie, or so he thought.

The Headmistress, not that amused, was still the spokesperson:

"We would like to talk of The Order, and what plans you are making with it."

And there it was, out in the open. Harry and Neville, knowing this was coming eventually, had debated about this the night before, but hadn't really come up with much. Now was the time to be decisive though, and Harry jumped right in.

"We are using the name of the old Order, nothing more really. It's nothing more than a loose gathering of Dumbledore's Army, minus some members." A lot of members in point of fact, but Harry wasn't about to give a list to her, given that he had resisted doing so for Robards.

"To what purpose?"

"To be ready in case Lucius Malfoy and his spawn decide to start things up again." He stopped, hoping with futility that it would satisfy her.

Of course it didn't, but Flitwick decided to head off trouble, and in his inherently friendly way:

"What led you to decide this Harry? I must assume that you are the leader of it."

"Technically speaking Bill Weasley is the leader, but of the leadership group I'm the one with the most time on my hands, so I'm probably the most active. Here's what we know:"

Harry proceeded to give a three minute, heavily edited, version of the events of the past few weeks. He named no other members of the new Order, and skipped certain plotlines, such as the aftermath of Ginny's attack, though they had heard about the attack itself. He did tell them that he was being followed, but quickly added Kingsley's belief that the Malfoys weren't so bold as to try to keep the surveillance up when he was in the castle.

"So there you have it. No one is trying to keep you out of big events or anything of that nature, we're just attempting to keep your focus on the students without having to bother with events that, so far, are kind of trivial."

Hermione sat there, listening, and in spite of herself admiring the audaciousness of Harry's strategy. He was, in a sense, trying to bluff his way out of things. McGonagall then asked the obvious:

"And when were you planning to inform us?"

Now Harry felt himself in a pickle. McGonagall and Flitwick were, strictly speaking, his bosses…….but his bosses from a job that he had been almost begged to take and didn't really need…….and a large part of his brain was just dying to remind the two of them of that little factoid. But ultimately he chickened out, and picked diplomatic honesty:

"I don't know Minerva, I hadn't really decided. I guess I just felt that the time wasn't right, so I put it off. I'll tell you this though, if the rest of them had chosen the other way, I wouldn't have resisted."

"Filius and I would like to be included in your plans from now on." Again, not a please to be heard, but McG was certainly being more civil than Harry had figured on. Her face had its typical stern look to it, but it was not a look of unfriendliness, there was no good cop bad cop dynamic here.

"That's not my decision to make, but Bill and Fleur are coming over for dinner tonight, and if they sign off, you're in. Hermione?"

His squeeze was not pleased to have the buck passed, but was nodding her agreement all the same.

"I agree, Bill needs to be consulted before we enlarge our group. What about Hagrid and the other teachers?"

No one had been happier, save Hermione, than Hagrid when Harry took the Flying Instructor position. The half giant had been out of town most of the summer, hence his non-participation in the Harry/Neville birthday bash……and Harry often idly wondered whether he still would have gone ahead with his plans if Hagrid had been there. He knew that the man was loyal to a fault, and that Dumbledore had trusted him with very important business……..but three years of Hagrid's teaching had made Harry very, very hesitant about trusting Hagrid's impulse control.

Or lack thereof.

For her part McGonagall felt the same way, the bond between Dumbledore and Hagrid was not something she dismissed lightly, but aside from her unspoken promise that Hagrid would always have a position of some sort at Hogwarts, she herself felt no such bond with the half giant.

"I think we would prefer to keep this amongst ourselves for the time being, though Horace would prove to be useful if things escalate." Horace was Professor Slughorn of course, still Potion's Master and Head of Slytherin House.

Now the ball was in Harry's court again, as the other three were all staring at him.

"Like I said, I'm fine with it, but I won't make any commitments without first talking to Bill, and I'm not going to bother him at the bank, Friday is his busiest day from what he tells me." Total bollocks of course, this was Harry's easy way of delaying. In truth Bill had told him that Friday was usually just a catching up day for him. Besides, they were going to Bill and Fleur, not the other way around.

Hermione took over:

"I'm sure Bill won't have a problem with it, so set aside Sunday afternoon at 5:00 pm for our meeting, we'll pick you up after Harry and company take out the Harpies."

Wishful thinking that was, the Holyhead Harpies were the reigning Euro Cup champions and their Seeker was the starter for South Africa in International play. But Harry was too busy being impressed that Hermione actually knew the name of his next opponent to make any arguments. Flitwick looked satisfied, and said as much.

"Sounds good to us, pending Bill's approval of course." He too assumed that it was just a formality, Bill had been one of his star pupils back in the day.

McGonagall also looked content at the arrangement, and after some rather stiff goodbyes, she and the Charms guru took their leave. Hermione went over to the couch and sat down, looking a bit off.

"Well that went swimmingly."

"It would appear on the surface that we got outmaneuvered, yes." Harry looked so pleased with himself that Hermione starting laughing, without realizing why.

"Are you telling me that you wanted this to happen?"

"Well ideally we would continue on as we are, but better that the two of them join now than later. We'll have them against Robards and Kingsley if need be……….we'll have them against Ginny and her allies if need be."

Realization hit Hermione like a ton of bricks.

"Would you have sought them out if they hadn't come over here?" She was secretly very pleased at the cleverness of it, it's not something Ron would have ever even tried to think of.

"Nope, it wouldn't have played nearly as well that way. They had to be the ones to approach, and us being so reasonable about it will allay most, if not all their concerns about the new way of things. They didn't even bitch about Bill being the leader, I knew he was the right front man."

Hermione's response was very thoughtful.

"I'm still having trouble reconciling this new you with the boy I used to know."

"That's the beauty of my new situation, I have time to think. I spent most of last year awake you know, and when I was lucid enough to do some thinking, I decided that the next war was going to be very different. I knew I would the prime target, since I'm such a lightning rod, and I've planned accordingly."

"Yet you keep saying that you have no plans set." More than one person in The Order had wondered at that particular contradiction.

"I didn't and don't, I just have a new way of going about things. I've learned from you in a lot of ways, to be more analytical about things and not let my emotions rule ALL my behavior."

Hermione was used to hearing from people: 'Oh I wish I could/would study like you.' But that was the extent of people telling her they wanted to be like her. That Harry would say such a thing left her dumbstruck for a brief moment. She just looked at her hands for a few ticks while trying to think of what to say.

"Thank you." Simple and to the point, and Harry walked over and took both her hands in his.

"I should have done it years ago, and for that I'm sorry. But I suppose I just wasn't ready to be like that, or maybe Dumbledore decided that I needed to be a certain way in order to make it all work. If I was like this five years ago I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gone along with things like I did. When I think of some of the stunts I pulled, or was too chicken to try, I'm kind of horrified."

"Would things be better now, or worse?"

"Dumbledore would say that events developed exactly as they were meant to."

"And that means…….?" It sure sounded like Dumbledore though, or so Hermione thought.

"Who knows, that's the beauty of Dumbledore's little sayings: They can mean most anything you want them to mean. That's how he was so effective for so long, why so many people, me included, worshipped him."

"Have you looked at his pensieve yet?" She imagined she would have been told by now if he had, but wanted to see how he would answer it.

"There's no rush is there?"

This was the first time since lunch that Harry had sounded uncomfortable, and Hermione let it drop. She knew that he would talk about it when he was ready.

"Okay, back to the tickle in the back of your mind…….." What they had been talking about when McG and Flitwick had interrupted them.

"I don't know, I just felt something in mind, a tickle like I said. I sort of felt the same way when Lucius and Draco came up on me."

Hermione had a sudden thought:

"Both of which were confrontations planned by your adversaries." It pained her to lump Ginny in with Malfoy pere and fils, but in this narrow context it did fit.

"Could be a coincidence, you never know. I guess I'll have to wait until someone attacks me in a fit of spontaneity or something to see if that theory works. I can't remember if I ever felt it before with Voldemort and his people, it could be a result of that night." That night being the final one in the Voldemort saga.

"Not something we can drill, thank goodness." Hermione didn't think that Harry and Neville practiced dueling against each other, Neville still being classroom rooted for the remainder of the calendar year, but assumed that something like it was coming for The Order.

"Yeah, any suggestion of it would lead to a plan. On a different subject, what should we do about Kingsley?"

"You mean for outing The Order to the faculty?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of peeved about that. I mean sure, it was going to happen anyway, but I've been pretty cooperative with him so far, and this is the thanks I get." He sounded vaguely irritated, but his dander wasn't getting up.

"You've been pretty rude with him too, I would imagine that he's just trying to put you in what he thinks is your place." Hermione, pretty much every time Harry recounted a Kingsley conversation, gently chided him on his confrontational approach to dealing with the Head Auror.

"My place as a 19 year old outside the government you mean."

"I'm not saying that I agree with him of course." In truth she felt that Kingsley was simply taking orders from Gawain Robards, who had all but said that Harry was to know his proper place.

"I know, and I'd love to be on the sidelines here, but the Malfoys and their sheep-like followers won't let me. They're going to use me and my supposed nuttiness to try and take over again, so I have to pay attention."

"And besides, you killed Voldemort."

And that's what it all boiled down to sports fans, Harry's belief that since he did the job no one else could do back in the last war, it merited his views being taken seriously in the build-up to the current one. Arthur and Molly alone of The Order were resistant to that idea/theory, they just couldn't get past Harry's age and life experience level. But they were also smart enough to know that their opinions were in the minority.

"I know how arrogant that sounds Hermione, like I'm bragging or something."

"You never brag Harry, even if everyone expects it of you." She badly wanted to say that that was one of the reasons she was in love with him……..and then did, sort of.

"It's one reason that I'm drawn to you like I am." Hermione was still unused to 'love stuff', and had some difficulty with putting into words how she felt. As she had told Harry before, she had never told Ron that she loved him.

But Harry understood what she meant and wanted to say. He released the hands he was still holding and drew her into a tight embrace. Even though there was no one else in the room, he spoke so that only she could have heard him anyway.

"It'll be different this time, I promise. This time we have the advantage, we have the most powerful people on our side, in terms of magic at least. Between you and me, Bill and Fleur and Neville……they don't have one person who can match any of the five of us, let alone all five. We'll win, and stamp out the Dark forces in this country for generations. You and I can live our lives here at Hogwarts, with nothing more to worry about than Gryffindor's chances in the House and Quidditch Cups."

Her reply was equally quiet and intense:

"I want to believe that, I hope we can make it happen."

"We will, it will be different this time."

No one could truly appreciate the irony of the situation at hand, since no one person, save perhaps a goblin or two, had possession of all the facts:

The Dark side, led by Lucius Malfoy, saw their loss in the last war as barely a loss, more of a fluke than anything They had killed many prominent members of the Light side, including Dumbledore, Remus, Amelia Bones, and Rufus Scrimgeour, multiple generations of leaders……while losing relatively little in return, aside from their monomaniacal leader, Mr. Riddle, and some other troops who were more trouble than they were worth. Still, they vowed that this time would be different.

The Light side, now more or less led by Harry Potter and Bill Weasley, in many ways saw their victory as quite the Pyrrhic one. They lost many family and friends, with psychological scars, Harry, and physical scars, Bill, noticeable on many. Still, they vowed that this time would be different.

At dinner that night Bill agreed that they had little choice but to admit Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick as the newest members of The Order, with Slughorn to join as soon as he or McGonagall insisted on it. Bill was cooking, always an adventure if one believed his wife, and while he was making the soup:

"She was right on that one Harry, we could use a Potions Master in the fold."

"Should I flat out ask him then? I mean he and I have a pretty good rapport, and if I can separate him in some small way from McGonagall….."

"Use some of the Potter magic on him? No pun intended." All four of them in the Weasley cottage, and it was just the two couples, started snickering.

"More like the Evans magic, he really did care about Mum." A well that Harry did not like going to that often if he had to, at least in regards to a direct mention. But in truth he asked relatively little of Slughorn, so he assumed that the man would go along with what he wanted the few times he did.

Hermione and Fleur, who were amused to be letting their men folk do the cooking tonight, both looked like they were onboard, so Bill started nodding too.

"Go for it, but tell McGonagall right after he says yes. The last thing we want is him going behind your back to tell her, or worse, him showing up at the meeting and her causing a scene."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll do it tomorrow morning. A morning without practice, how will I ever cope?" Puddlemere did not have Saturday practices during the season, their only day off aside from the Christmas-time shutdown.

"Just don't let him get you drunk and we'll be fine."

Sunday, August 24, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

5:40 pm

Puddlemere United did not, as Hermione had put it, 'take care' of the Harpies, but Harry did get the Golden Snitch in a 300-210 loss. The opposing Beaters had focused all of their considerable attention on Katie and her fellow Chasers, leaving Oliver all but defenseless as all three Puddlemere reserve Chasers saw action. He made a game of it for awhile, but in the end Puddlemere was 1-1 on the season, though losing somewhat closely to the reigning BQL title holders was nothing to be ashamed of.

Still, Harry left the pitch satisfied with his performance, and the knowledge that he and his Order cohorts were arguably the three best Puddlemere players on the day. Clive Reynolds had not been in the best mood after the game, but since the Snitch hadn't made an appearance until after the score was out of control, he couldn't say much to Harry.

Only 22 Snitches to go.

The lot of them met at Hogwarts again, and flooed over to Grimmauld Place. They picked up McGonagall, Flitwick, and Slughorn along the way, the first two were not Quidditch fans aside from Hogwarts games and Slughorn had been watching the Tornadoes put a whupping on Ron's Cannons.

Slughorn had readily agreed to Harry's personal request to join The Order, and even went along with his younger colleague's request to make McG think the whole thing was Slughorn's idea. The clincher was when:

"Of course you don't have to go on any missions if you don't want to, though you're welcome to……..once we start having missions anyway. No sir, just a potion here and there, an introduction now and again to some of your more obscure contacts in our world…….your prestigious name on our letterhead, if you will. Just show up to a meeting every other week, you don't have to come to all of them if you don't want to." He was really laying it on thick, but Horace was won over.

"Well of course Harry, if you think my talents will be useful."

"Absolutely sir……err, Horace."

Slughorn had dutifully gone to McGonagall and told her that he had visited Harry and Hermione and insisted on becoming part of things, and that while resistant, the two youngsters had acquiesced. He was so convincing that it took McG about three seconds to figure out that it was a put-up job. She would later tell Flitwick that it was rather insulting to be taken as a simpleton, but they chose to let Harry and Slughorn have their illusions. For the time being.

As everyone filed into Grimmauld Place, Neville was taking roll, as it were, checking names off a list. Once everyone had arrived, he went over to Molly and Arthur.

"Where's Percy? I didn't expect to see him at the game, but I assumed he would meet us at Hogwarts."

Molly answered him:

"He said had too much work to do at home, and that he would talk to us about the meeting when we returned home." No one in the room looked more nervous tonight than Molly did, she and her husband were keeping an eye each peeled on their daughter ever since they had gotten there. Ginny was busy talking to George, and studiously ignoring Hermione, who was doing the same to her.

"Fair enough, I'm sure you'll fill him in nicely." Neville said this with a bland smile, but on the inside his brain was screaming:

"DANGER! DANGER!"

Harry wasn't the only one who had learned things since Voldemort's death, one of Neville's great accomplishments since the death of his tormentor Severus Snape was an ability to hide what he was really thinking.

So he didn't let his disquiet show. Instead he went over to Bill and handed him the list, his right thumb pointed directly at the name Percy Weasley, the only name without a checkmark by it. Bill was pretty sharp and just nodded at him, resolving to deal with it later.

"All right then, does everyone have some food and drink? Thanks again to Kreacher, nobody does Mexican food better than he does." Kreacher had just slouched in, and while Bill knew that the little elf didn't like him or any other Weasley, he still liked making Kreacher flinch.

"Okay, now it's no secret that we have three new members: Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, and Horace Slughorn. We all know and respect them, so I'll spare you a listing of their CV's and get right to business."

At his signal, Hermione came forward:

"These are parchments that I came up with, in consultation with Bill. It involves an Oath of Loyalty and a Vow of Silence. You cannot physically assault a listed member of the first sheet, nor can you speak about Order business with anyone but someone on the second. They are similar to the parchment I had people in Dumbledore's Army sign a few years ago. I won't tell you the punishment for violating your Oath, only that it will be much worse than what happened to Marietta Edgecombe." During her explanation of the first parchment she stared straight at Ginny, who didn't flinch. During the second she merely moved her eyes over the room, taking care not to settle on one particular person.

Bill took over:

"Now we all know why the first parchment is necessary, so I won't go into it here. If you don't sign it, you will be Obliviated immediately and kicked out, no exceptions. Now as for the second, the only exceptions will be Harry and myself, since we are the faces and voices of the group to the outside. I'm needed to deal with the goblins, Harry with anyone else we need. One person has already signed the second parchment: Luna's father, who has graciously agreed to be our paper of record when the need arises. Are there any questions?"

Flitwick had one:

"I take it from the second parchment that our numbers will continue to remain small?"

"For now, yes. As soon as the first attack is made on Hogwarts, Hogsmeade or some other high value target, then we will be enlarging. But until then it will be on a case by case basis, like the three of you."

"So no one from Auror Command then? Having Kingsley and Tonks back in the day was very useful inside information."

Harry, standing next to Fleur and Neville, couldn't believe his ears as Flitwick said this. After all, Kingsley was the reason that the three newcomers were there in the first place. Bill still had the floor though:

"Kingsley is beholden to The Ministry now, and to Gawain Robards. He is beholden to his position in the hierarchy. So while he can be trusted to fight the Malfoys when the time comes, he can't be trusted not to sacrifice us in the process." He raised his eyebrows as if to say 'Does that answer your question?'.

Flitwick just smiled back and nodded, though he did not share that view of Kingsley the supposed mercenary.

"Anyone else?" Seeing no others, Bill took the first parchment, the one prohibiting assaults, and signed it with a flourish. He then gave it to Hermione to do likewise, and it went around the room. No one resisted signing, even Ginny. She did direct a very hostile look at Harry before she did, and Hermione while she did, but the signature was still valid.

Harry made sure he was the last to sign it, but otherwise did not make a show of things. He handed the parchment back to Bill, who perused it.

"Everything appears to be in order. This parchment will reside in my desk at Gringotts, a desk that only Fleur and I, among humans, can access without the proper password. Hermione, the next one if you please."

Hermione signed the second parchment, and then gave it to Neville, and around the room it went again. It stopped at Molly, who had a question.

"What about Percy? Signing this will mean that we can't talk to him about the meeting until next week."

"Then he will just have to wait Mum, he decided that his paper backlog was more important than our meeting, and we even threw in a free meal. I'll pay him a visit tomorrow and tell him about the parchments, he can decide then." Bill, like every one of his siblings, still did not trust Percy completely…….and his absence tonight was bordering on suspicious. But he didn't want to alarm his mother, or let her think that Harry's dislike of Percy was becoming too much of an influence on him.

Arthur's question was about the other missing Weasley, as Molly signed:

"What about Charlie?"

"He'll be back in a few weeks for a International Dragon Handlers Association meeting, it's in France. I'll portkey over then and get him onboard. He won't be an active member, but it will allow us to sound him out about things, he'll provide a different perspective. Plus he has a lot of contacts in Eastern Europe, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor at Durmstrang is one of his ex-roommates." Durmstrang had a much less horrid reputation than it did under Karakoff, and Charlie himself had been approached about that same job, which he of course turned down.

The second parchment soon made it's way back to Bill, and again it passed muster. He placed it on top of the first one, for safekeeping in his desk. He had not mentioned that any goblin above a certain rank had free access to his office, but he had long been assured that the goblins would never break their vow of neutrality for anything save a mass assault on Gringotts.

"Now then, let's take a moment to fill in our newcomers on our activities."

The rest of the discussion was spent acclimating them as to the situation. To no one's surprise Flitwick agreed that caution was best, he was fully in favor of reacting for the time being, rather than being proactive. Slughorn felt much the same, in his brief forays into the discussion. He was more interested in sampling Harry's wine cellar, which our boy had been building up. During a lull in the debate:

"Where did you find these bottles Harry?"

"Here and there in the city sir…..err, Horace. I've grown to like the taste of wine with dinner, so I've signed up for a class on how better to appreciate it."

"A muggle class in nature?"

"I checked, our society doesn't offer it. I'd be happy to share my new knowledge with you, and some samples, once I've started."

This wine tasting class was actually the truth, as well as the reason behind it. If it helped him bind Slughorn's loyalty to him……well Harry reflected that life has it's little bonuses from time to time. He also didn't mention the driving lessons that he had signed up for, ones that he would be ditching his Ministry and Malfoy surveillance for.

Back to the discussion that neither had been paying that close of attention to:

McGonagall, not what one could call a proactive soldier back in the day, was advocating setting of some kind of watch on certain parts of Knockturn Alley, if not Malfoy Manor itself. Arthur handled that last one:

"According to Kingsley, Malfoy Manor has been made Unplottable, though it is not yet under Fidelius. Either way, we would need an inside person of some kind to penetrate."

Neville had an answer for that:

"I have one possibility that I've been working on." Since Neville spent 10 hours a day in class everyone took it to mean one of his classmates. But someone had to ask, and Ron did:

"Who? A Slytherin crony of Malfoy?"

"Blaise Zabini." He of the many step-fathers, and one of only two Slytherin graduates in the new Auror training cadre.

They pondered this for a moment, and when Neville would only say that he would have another report for them the following Saturday, they moved on.

By 8:00 pm everyone was gone but Harry, Neville, Hermione, Bill, and Fleur. Bill took one more sip of his wine and started in with the real meeting:

"Okay first: Harry, congratulations for not hexing Ginny to hell and gone, I could tell that you wanted to. And congrats to Ginny in absentia for not trying the same on you, or saying anything that would get her yelled at by someone." He paused for breath.

"Now we have to decide what to do about Percy."

End Chapter


	12. Weasley Woes

Author's Note: As readers of my other stories are aware of, I'm fond of plugging gaps in canon. That will continue here, but won't be any kind of focal point.

Sunday, August 24, 1999 continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

8:10 pm

"Now we have to decide what to do about Percy." Bill let that hang out there for a few seconds.

Neville was next:

"So you're in agreement that something smells here?"

"He was pretty convincing last week about wanting to avoid mistakes, and now seven days later he ditches us? I just don't see it."

Harry got up and puttered around the snack table, letting his thoughts coalesce in his mind.

"How often do you sweep The Burrow for Charms?"

Bill was totally unsurprised that Harry was the one to bring this up.

"I don't, since I don't live there. That's up to Mum and Dad, and Ron if you've taught him how to do it." He doubted that he had, and was quickly proven correct.

"Ron never picked it up as well as Hermione and I did, and he's not the suspicious type either so it wouldn't occur to him even if he knew. What I'm saying is, if your Mum and Dad talk about the meeting tonight, any Listening Charms that Percy may or may not have planted will pick it up, if he's put them in the right places."

Fleur liked Percy even less than she did Ron, so she was pretty much nodding along with what Harry was saying, while Hermione was now holding up her hands.

"Wait just a minute here, one absence from a meeting isn't as suspicious as you boys seem to think it is. Maybe he just didn't feel like coming, or he legitimately had work to do for the office." Hermione had invested a decent amount of time into her Percy project over the last 12 months and wasn't about to see it chucked away for one missed meeting.

Harry let Bill take this one:

"Office work on a Sunday night? C'mon Hermione, that's a bit much even for Percy. One of the first things I did when Mum and Dad told me about Percy's new job was to check it out, see what it entailed. Now I'm not saying that it's a sinecure or anything like that, but he barely has 40 hours of weekly work to do in it, let alone any to take home. And I doubt that they would allow him to anyway, Wizengamot materials leaving The Ministry in the hands of a junior staffer with a checkered work history."

That brought Hermione up short more than a little, and even Neville was startled to learn how much Bill knew about his formerly wayward brother. Hermione threw out a weak:

"Your Mum and Dad surely must know about the security restrictions, so why did they go along with it?"

"Mum barely knows what Dad does at the office, let alone what Percy occupies himself with all day. The only time anyone encouraged Percy was you, the rest of them have too vivid memories of cauldron bottoms and Barty Crouch, even Dad only has so much patience."

"And your Dad?"

"I don't know about Dad, I doubt he believes what Percy told Mum, but I would be surprised if he took anything sinister from it." A delightful non-answer, and Hermione kind of pounced on it.

"Yet you and Harry seem to be."

Bill liked Hermione a great deal, and while he too had never believed that she and Ron were suited, still thought of her as a sister. But her naiveté about certain things still bothered him occasionally. He was saved in this by Harry, who was more gentle about his reply than the Harry of four years ago would have been:

"That's because you've never had someone turn on you Hermione. Percy, Pettigrew……even Ron back during the Tri-Wizard. You have that happen to you, you start looking at people a little differently, you start giving second chances with unspoken conditions. Percy spent three years slandering his parents and me whenever he got the chance, and the suddenly saw the light when it looked like our side was about to win. Well our side won, but we lost Fred, Tonks, Remus…..so many people. Percy doesn't feel like he lost a thing."

Bill looked at Harry with a smile of respect, seeing another layer to his friend/protégé, as Fleur of all people finished the thought:

"He is right, Harry is. You will next ask why Molly and Arthur don't feel the same way?"

Hermione was still rocked by Harry's little speech, but nodded all the same.

"Because they love their son, nothing more or less than that. Does he deserve that love? Not to us he does not, but we did not bear him did we? We have not lost one son before his time, had another exile himself to Romania. They want to believe in their son."

Hermione was very quiet for a moment, and looked up with a single tear in her right eye:

"We are so very young, aren't we?"

Bill put his arm around her for a moment:

"Yes we are, even scarred up ole me, even white haired young Harry." Whenever Bill spoke of his scars from Fenrir Greyback, it was always to make fun of them, even when it was just he and Fleur.

That got the hoped for smile though, and Hermione hugged him for a second, and smiled at Fleur, whom she had never liked more than she did at present.

"Anyway……okay before we talk about Percy and the Charms that we're going to have to somehow check for every day, what did you mean about Charlie?"

Now Bill looked sad, much like Hermione had before, as he explained for the benefit of the three younger folk.

"Charlie hates politics in all forms and shapes, he hates it to the same degree that he loves his dragons. He could have a job with Gringotts tomorrow, working with our dragons, if he wanted. But he won't come back here to live, he can barely stand to visit. Even before Voldemort came back Charlie didn't like what Britain had become, what Millicent Bagnold, who was Minister while Charlie was at Hogwarts, and Fudge had turned our society into. He didn't even really like Dumbledore that much. So when the Romanian Dragon Preserve offered him the job straight out of Hogwarts, he lit out without a second thought, he barely stopped to pack his things. His first time back was when you met him Hermione and Harry, at the Quidditch World Cup, and it took something that big to bring him back."

"And Voldemort being gotten rid of didn't help?"

"It helped, to a point. He's planning on a Christmas visit, which would be pretty rare. But no, I'm sure he thinks that things haven't really changed. I don't know, it's hard sometimes, he's my best friend and I get to see him once a year at the most." He left unsaid that Charlie discouraged visits to Romania as well, not wanting to be sucked into Britain's problems. He cleared his throat and took another sip of wine.

"Sorry bout that, I don't usually get so verbose. What to do about Percy. Neville, what do you think?"

Neville was still reeling a bit from what Bill and Fleur had said about their family, he had learned more in 10 minutes about the inner workings of the Weasleys than in any week around Ron and Ginny. He recovered quickly though:

"Go over there tonight and sweep The Burrow, you and Fleur both. Hide it as a visit if you must, but better that we find out about the possible surveillance now rather than later. I'll go by his office on my lunch break tomorrow and do some planting of my own, I doubt he's important enough for the counter-intelligence people in the DMLE to be worried about, so it might take them some time to find the Charms I place." Neville had been scheming about this since the beginning of the larger meeting, and had been refining his plan in his own mind. He had resisted temptation to floo over to The Burrow, via Hogwarts, during the meeting itself.

Harry turned to Bill:

"Let's say, for a minute, that we find some Listening Charms. A: Do you think your parents have been talking to each other about what's going on……..and B: What do we do to Percy once we find them?" He felt that since Bill was Percy's only blood in the room, decisions like that should be solely within his purview.

"I don't know to the first one, and I don't even want to think about what to do if we catch him. Mum and Dad should know better, but they're going to assume that Ron, Ginny, and Percy can all be trusted, so they won't have to watch what they say at home."

"Then I think we ought to do like Neville says, find out now, so that we won't wonder."

Bill looked at Harry for a long moment, and then stood up.

"All right, I can see the utility in that. Fleur, you should come too, it will distract Mum for a bit. Harry, best that you stay here, you coming will alert the others that something's up." He wanted no part of Hermione coming near Ginny right now, and Neville's arrival would cause just as much curiosity as Harry's.

Bill and Fleur left within a minute, and the younger three, for lack of anything better to do, just sat there.

It took Bill and his wife only a couple of minutes to get back to The Burrow, flooing directly from Hermione's office.

Arthur and Ron were playing a game of chess at the kitchen table, though this time they were playing the muggle version of the game, also known as the only version that Arthur had a chance of winning at.

"Well hello you two, what brings you by?"

Bill looked around, and without being told Fleur headed into the living room.

"Where are the others?"

"You mother and Ginny went over to Luna's for a bit, I assume that Percy's in his room still, haven't seen him since we got back." Bill hadn't been told that Ginny and Molly regularly went over to Luna's on Sunday nights, to help with housekeeping and such.

"Are you sure that he's here?"

"I heard someone rattling around in there when I was up in the loo, but we've only been back for a little bit as you well know." He was now very much wondering where this was going, as he saw Bill waving his wand around, muttering something under his breath that Arthur couldn't hear.

Ron knew exactly what was going on, he had seen Harry sweep their dorm room at least 15 times a day during their last year in school. The one time Ron had asked what was going on, Harry just said that a person couldn't be too careful and then left the room. 11 days later Harry tried to kill them all, and Ron stopped wondering. He didn't say a word though, until Bill stopped his motions.

"Find anything?"

"No, thank God."

"Percy not showing up caused some problems eh?"

Bill reflected that Ron was pretty sharp at times, but kept his smile to a minimum.

"You know the answer to that."

"I do, and I'm with you."

Now Arthur understood what was going on, and furiously motioned for both of his sons to join him outside, Fleur still not visible to them. Once out there:

"Just what the hell are you accusing him of Bill? Do you know what it would do to your mother if she was here right now?"

Bill was equal to the task:

"I have a duty to The Order to make sure that there are no weeds in our garden Dad, and the only one who could be that weed right now is Percy. Everybody else is tried and tested, not your turncoat third son. I've never bought his turnaround and you know it, he's just been waiting for his chance to curry favor with someone powerful, and he can't bring himself to let it be Harry. Now I would like nothing more this to just be laziness on his part, disinterest in getting involved, except that we both know that of Percy's many faults, being lazy isn't one of them."

Bill's vehemence should not have surprised his father, since the words in substance had been said more than once in their weekly lunches. It was the tone that rocked him though, but Arthur tried to rally.

"So you think he's in league with Malfoy?"

"Either them or with Kingsley, and I pray that it's the latter."

Arthur didn't get a chance to reply because his daughter-in-law came out just then.

"The only person in the house right now is someone in Percy's room, reading from what I can tell from the sounds. There are Listening Charms near Molly's chair in the living room, the floo fireplace, and inside Ginny's room. The other bedrooms are clear aside from Percy's, which of course is occupied." That was fast action, but Fleur wasn't the star of her class at Beauxbaton for nothing. It went without saying that she had not been detected in her actions, Fleur had a ballerina's like grace.

Bill squeezed his wife's hand, and looked at his father.

"The Listener in Ginny's room I would believe is yours, but the others?"

Arthur was now on his way to defeat, but not yet there:

"None of them are mine, but I won't speak for your mother or George. Ron?"

"I wouldn't be caught dead putting anything on Ginny's room, but I did notice Percy talking to her a lot early this week. Didn't think anything of it at the time, but maybe he was egging her on." He sounded a bit casual at first, but the wheels were turning by the time he finished.

"Do you agree with Bill, that he might have turned on us?" Arthur, like Harry, had never been prouder of Ron, non-war category, than with his adult reaction to Harry/Hermione, and wanted to see what 'that' Ron thought.

"He'd turn on us to Kingsley in a heartbeat, he probably volunteered. To the Malfoys? I have a harder time believing that, but I won't rule it out."

"When are Ginny and Mum due back?"

"They've probably only just gotten there, it's a kilometer or more walk and they only left 10 minutes ago."

"They don't Apparate over there?"

"Not usually, it's their mother/daughter time together. Look, what are you intending here Bill? You can't arrest Percy, even if you had the power to."

"I'm not looking to arrest anyone Dad, I just want to know the full scope of what we're dealing with."

"I don't know who's rubbing off more on who, you on Harry, or him on you." Arthur said that without either a smile or a frown.

"We're a cooperative venture Dad, I'm glad that the he, Fleur, and I have become such close friends. Now of course I'm not going to force feed Veritaserum to Percy, not yet, but once Mum and Ginny get home we're going to find out who those Charms belong to."

They had been walking toward Arthur's muggle shed, with Fleur keeping an eye on the house, though Percy's window did not face in their direction. Ron again said what his father was unwilling or unable to:

"So you want to try and trap him?"

"I don't know Ron, that will depend on Mum and Ginny, they'll have to play along with whatever we do."

"Your mother will never agree to a trap or setup of Percy, you must know that."

"I don't need her to agree Dad, I just need to know whether she placed those Charms……..and we know she didn't."

Ron came to a decision then.

"Let's find out if George did, I'll be right back."

Ron now considered himself an expert at Apparating, and popped off without another word, presumably to Diagon Alley. George lived above the shop, and it was only short walk from the designated Apparation Zone.

There was dead silence between the three of them as they waited for Ron. Bill was wondering why Arthur was so resistant to at least finding out, while conversely the elder Weasley wondered what had made Bill so intense about the subject. He had only been sort of joking about Harry's influence on Bill, but was now wondering if it was indeed a joke.

Ron returned in a couple of minutes with the one-eared man himself.

"So, Ron tells me that some things are in play here."

"He can't have told you that much, he was barely gone two minutes." But Bill knew what was really going on, he knew that George would have hexed them all if he had been left out of things, and what's more Ron knew that.

"He's a fast talker. For the record, it's been three years since I put a Charm anywhere near Ginny's room, and they must have expired by now. I never put anything by the floo or Mum's chair, I'm crazy but not suicidal." That was definitive all right, and now Fleur not so gingerly entered the debate.

"I think logic would dictate that Molly did not put anything by her own chair, nor Ginny on her own room."

Yes, logic would seem to ensure that, but to be sure, George decided to act:

"C'mon Apparition expert, let's get over to Luna's and find out for sure."

Ron nodded, and the two of them popped off, Ron even quieter than his brother.

"Do you have a plan Bill? Or just suspicions?"

"The latter Dad, any plan will have to wait until I have proof."

"Why isn't Harry here? He wouldn't come without Hermione?"

It was said with curiosity, but Fleur took it differently.

"Oh but of course Arthur, Harry is too frightened to go anywhere without his lady to protect him." No one did sarcasm better than the French, and Fleur was no exception.

"That's not what I meant and you know it Fleur."

"That's not how it sounded Dad, but I asked Harry to stay behind, so as not to call attention to the visit if certain people were home. Mum would kick up a fuss, and Ginny would be scheming about ways to violate the parchment terms."

"You have too little faith in some members of your family Bill."

The air was now thick with tension between the two of them, as Fleur's words to Hermione now rang very true: Arthur just did not want to believe.

"Interesting that you would choose Percy and Ginny over Harry and I, when we're the ones who have been nothing but loyal……and haven't assaulted anyone in the family recently."

"He's changed, and she just had a moment is all. You'll see, this is all going to be about nothing."

"Nothing would make me happier Dad." Bill truly felt that, even if he believed that no one was going to be happy at the end of all this.

George and Ron returned in about 10, very long, minutes. They came by themselves, which spoke volumes right there. George was their mouthpiece:

"Well it took some dancing around, some misdirection, and a couple of flat out lies from the chess master here, but we're reporting that neither of them has any Listening Charms anywhere. Mum's like me, she had them up before, but not since Ginny and Ron left for school a year ago."

Bill looked hard at his father:

"So do I need to portkey to Romania and ask Charlie? Or do you finally believe that something's up here?"

Arthur wanted to start crying, he had genuinely believed that Percy was different, that the war had made him see that his family was the most important thing. The way Arthur himself felt, and Molly……and it seemed none of his other children, save perhaps Ron.

"Do what you must Bill, I won't interfere."

"But you won't help either." Said as a statement, not a question.

"Would you really want it? Half-hearted help is worse than no help at all."

"I'll take whatever help I can get Dad, and I really do feel sorry for you here, about how conflicted you must be."

Arthur wondered about that, but realized that he was not in a position to call his eldest son a liar.

"Again, what is your plan?"

"We do nothing tonight, I find it hard to believe that Percy doesn't know we're here, so we don't want to tip him off. Neville's going to put some things in his office, and then after that's done we'll start the false leads. If we're really, really lucky, he's just sold us to Kingsley and we can just slightly adjust things. If we're not quite that lucky, then it's Malfoy, and we either have to turn Percy, voluntarily or otherwise, or remove him as a threat via arrest or Obliviation."

George put his two Knuts in.

"Why don't you just Obliviate him tonight? Just put some Veritaserum in him, question him, and then act on it right then. I'm with you in that we should find out and act, but I'm with Dad in that it would kill Mum if Percy was revealed to all and sundry as a traitor."

Ron looked to be in total agreement with his brother, and as he reflected for a second or two, Bill knew that Hermione and Luna would likely feel the same way……and as much as he loved the strangeness of that particular coalition, he had to go another way, for a very important reason.

"Two reasons we can't do that George: One: If I'm wrong, Mum will never forgive anyone who went along with it……..and two: If I'm right, we could use Percy to expose what our enemies are doing, or at least find out more than we know right now, which is not a whole lot. The first reason is enough for me. Ron?"

"Yeah, I guess we should see where this goes."

"Fleur?"

"I agree."

"Dad?"

"All right, but promise me one thing."

"I'm listening." Bill wasn't willing to commit to anything without hearing it.

"No violence on him unless he fires first, and even then you do your best to stun him only."

"Agreed, as long as his firing first doesn't include an Unforgivable." That was not said with the tone of negotiation.

"It won't come to that…….I do seem to be saying that a lot these days, your mother too."

Bill and Fleur didn't say much to that, and were off a few minutes later. They only spent a few minutes updating Harry, Hermione, and Neville back at Grimmauld Place before flooing back to their cottage, the cottage now having a direct link to Harry's house. While they were getting into bed:

"Bill, you realize what this is starting do you not?"

"A civil war inside my family, is that what you mean?"

"That is the way it is heading, that is why your father is so sad, because he will not be on your side."

"So it's us, Ron, George, and Charlie against Mum, Dad, Ginny, and Percy." He took it for granted that Charlie would back him, while Ginny would back whomever was aligned against Harry, who was the elephant in the room so to speak.

"If we are lucky, I still wonder at Ron being so mature, I wonder if that is all that it seems."

Bill often wondered the same thing, but his head was hurting from his samples from Harry's wine cellar, and he just wanted to forget about things for a night. Or at least a little while as he reached for his wife.

Monday, August 25, 1999

The Burrow

12:30 pm

This was not a Teddy day normally, those were Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Harry still brought him along for his first Burrow visit. It was Harry's first time there since graduation, but it was with a purpose.

To see what he could do about Molly.

The portkey took Teddy and Harry to the edge of Ottery St. Catchpole and they walked the half kilometer to the Weasley house, Teddy tottering along with a huge grin on his face. He would stop occasionally and demand that Harry carry him. His godfather would oblige, but it was getting harder each time they stopped.

"I'm not a big guy you know Teddy, and I've had a long day already." At Quiddtich practice, Clive had been in a martinet mood after the loss to the Harpies.

To which Teddy would reply:

"Harry carry." With a big giggle, and he wasn't even a baseball fan either.

"You wait til I have kids Teddy, you'll be hauling every single one of them around all day every day." He knew that Teddy understood little of what he was saying, but they were still having a high old time as they approached the house.

They didn't get all the way there undetected though, as the Alarm Charms that Harry knew were present told Molly that someone was coming. She saw them through the kitchen window as a panting Harry set his godson down.

"Harry dear, this is a nice surprise." She was smiling that Molly smile of hers, and bent down to look at Teddy, whom she had not seen in a few months.

"And who might you be?"

"Me Teddy Lupin." He said it with such a big smile that Harry didn't correct the grammar as he usually did.

"Hello Teddy, I'm Molly." She shook his hand and looked at Harry.

"He has grown hasn't he?"

"Like the proverbial weed, I don't know what Andromeda feeds him, but it works."

"You look tired, are you sleeping well?"

"I had a long, long, long day in the air is all, nothing sleep related, though I won't have a problem getting there tonight. I might even skip the pill this time." He had done it once, but immediately noticed that it wasn't 'the same' without.

"Well it's good to see you here, come in and I'll fix you some lunch, you're still as thin as a reed, doesn't that Kreacher feed you?" Molly had very unpleasant memories of Kreacher, but somehow kept the loathing out of her voice.

"Oh he feeds us very well Molly, he's not on the same level as you are as a chef, but he's in the stadium. Let's talk out here for a moment if you don't mind, some air always does Teddy good."

"And you want to avoid any Charms that Percy placed." She still sounded pleasant, even if the words suggested something else was coming.

"I was hoping that Arthur talked to you about that."

"To make your job easier today?"

"I've learned a lot of lessons the hard way Molly, I'll never turn down a shot at some easy ones."

"What do you want from me Harry?"

"To let Bill do what he needs to do with Percy."

"And you? Are you really divorcing yourself of involvement here? I was told that you weren't here last night."

"No I wasn't here, and yes I can divorce myself, to a point. Tell me, what do you think of those Charms?"

"I agree that on the surface they are suspicious." Oddly formal she was.

"Could they be from anyone else but Percy? Anything Fred placed would have expired by now, after over a year."

There was a bit of silence now, as they both looked sad at the mention of Fred. Harry and George had had one cathartic talk about the missing Weasley, but otherwise had never brought him up to each other. He and Molly had never spoken of Fred since it happened, and she shifted the talk back to where it had to be.

"What are you planning Harry dear?" Said in a sad voice, reminiscent, if Harry had been there, of the way Arthur had sounded the night before.

"I'm not planning a blessed thing about Percy, I promise. But whatever Bill asks of me, he gets. He's my leader and I intend to follow him." The trick was that Bill knew not to give 'orders'.

"You have a lot of faith in Bill, a lot of trust." There was even a touch of motherly pride in her voice, almost in spite of herself.

"I do, he has the kind of mind I wish I had. That's why he's running point on this, that and he's a blood member of your family."

"You're a Weasley in everything but name Harry, Arthur and I have felt that way ever since we met you."

"I appreciate that more than I can say, but Percy still needs to be sorted out. Will you stand in our way?"

"Would it matter if I did?"

WHAM!

A punch to the gut would not have rocked Harry harder than those six words, delivered with the same sad tone. But Harry felt that he owed it to her to be honest with her, much as he wanted to say something different:

"In the end, no it wouldn't, I'm sorry. If those Listeners weren't there, none of this would be happening, but they were, and we can't be caught asleep again." The first lie he had told Molly in a long time, because Percy's non-attendance the night before was more than enough for him.

"Like Arthur told Bill, I won't interfere, but until you have something conclusive, I will not help you."

"I can handle that, I'm sure the others can too."

"The others will do what you and Bill tell them to."

"Yes." Nothing more than that was said by Harry on that particular topic.

"I will not tell Percy of your suspicions, and Arthur and I have agreed that since we know of the Listening Charms and believe that Percy placed them, talking about The Order in front of them would violate the parchment terms. I know what Bill and Hermione are capable of with those parchments, and we won't test them. But please do not ask me to anything else."

"Until we have proof."

"Until you have proof, even the strongest of suspicions is not enough."

"I won't ask any more or you until we do."

"Thank you."

"Will you forgive us if we're wrong?" He felt sure that she would say yes, she had forgiven Percy for much, much more.

"There would be nothing to forgive dear, you aren't going behind our backs with your investigation, you and Bill have been completely aboveboard. That means a lot." And that was the kicker.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now enough serious talk, let's show Teddy The Burrow."

Things relaxed a bit for the next two hours as they had a spot of lunch, and Teddy went wild over the antics of the garden gnomes. Harry had the half-sinking feeling that his godson was going to demand repeated trips to The Burrow in the future just to see the gnomes, though the youngster did seem to like Molly as well.

Harry did manage, while Molly was using the loo, to stand in front of one of Percy's Listening Charms and tell Teddy that he wished his godson could accompany him to The Leaky Cauldron that night, but his mother wouldn't approve. He, Neville, and Hermione were supposed to go there anyway for dinner, but given that they would be leaving from Hogwarts, there wouldn't be an opportunity for them to be followed.

Until now, perhaps.

Harry thought that he sold it convincingly, and Teddy obliged him by demanding to come with 'Herm' and 'Nevi', as he called them. Maybe next time, was Harry's reply, but he had decided weeks ago that the only time Teddy would be at pub anytime soon was in it's guise as the gateway to muggle London. Too much risk in being stationary in these uncertain times.

Meanwhile, at The Ministry:

Neville's sneaky plan for infiltrating Percy's office went pretty much according to plan……in that Neville basically just walked in and placed his Listening Charms and walked out. He put them next to the desk and the floo fireplace, making them keyword specific so as to weed out any dross that Percy and his office-mates might be so inclined to talk about. It took less than five minutes and Neville was back in the Commissary eating his tuna salad, right next to his new friend Blaise Zabini, who was actually proving to be a decent bloke now that he was out of school and away from certain influences. It was a daily ritual now, them sitting together, though neither of them had suggested socializing after work.

That night Harry, Hermione, and Neville shared a long dinner at the pub, complete with reminiscing about Hogwarts and days gone by. Avoided topics included Ginny, Percy, Blaise, and anything substantive about any current events. Harry didn't even talk Quidditch with this audience, as Hermione had never been a fan and Neville was now only a fan of the sport because of his three friends on Puddlemere.

Watching the three of them were, as it happens, three different people:

Damian Woodley, a third year Auror from Wales and The Ministry of Magic, who reported directly to Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was a Ravenclaw back in the day, but had never had any dealings with Harry.

Anson Parkinson, older brother of Pansy, a low level Ministry employee whose real loyalties can easily be surmised. He had graduated Hogwarts a couple of months before Harry and company had gone, and aside from his attendance at school Quidditch games, they had never laid eyes on him.

Oliver Wood was the last watcher, under a pair of Charms that made him a blonde and noticeably less handsome than he really was. Bill's scars, George's missing ear, and Fleur's Veela blood made Glamour Charms not as effective on them……and Bill wanted no part of sending in Ron or Luna on this kind of mission. So Oliver 'won' the coin toss with Katie and spent the entire meal watching the watchers. Woodley was spotted right away, as was Parkinson, as Oliver had gone to school with both, and had classes with Woodley. He had been fully briefed on the Percy situation that morning, and was very disquieted to see that both the Ministry and Malfoy options were still in play.

He would report as much to Bill, Fleur, Fred, and Ron, who were eating dinner at WWW, and none of them were pleased at their abundance of options. The entire group had been hoping that either The Ministry or the Malfoys would be eliminated with Harry's simple ploy, but it was not to be. George would repeat his proposal to question Percy immediately, Molly be damned, while Ron urged caution, he was warming to the idea of a setup more and more. Bill was with Ron, for the time being:

"Let's see what the Listening Charms get us, and what progress Neville makes with Blaise Zabini. We've started that stratagem, let's give it a week or two to play out. But we need to be prepared, I agree with that much. Ron, I'm going to have you and Harry come up with plans to infiltrate, or invade, Malfoy Manor. Don't speak to each other about it, I want your differing points of view. Look at it like one of your chess games, you have great instincts there, let's see if you can translate them. Harry's been doing a lot of reading on muggle espionage, some of those ideas should translate to our situation." Bill had not visited Percy at The Ministry like he had said during the official Order meeting, wanting no part of letting him in on the parchment or that the parchment was even needed.

Ron was pleased to be handed this kind of responsibility, and was soon back home, working on them. Working on them in silence, no Listening Charms, however close, would pick up what he was working on behind his triple locked door.

Ginny and Luna were not there or involved in the planning, as they had not been informed of the Percy business. Ginny because of Ron's belief that Percy might have egged her on to go after Harry, and Luna because Bill didn't want Ginny finding out about the Percy problem and going:

"So everybody knew about but me!?"

Not this time, Bill was nothing if not thorough.

The rest of the week proceeded with something resembling normalcy. Preparations were heavy at Hogwarts for the start of the term, due on Monday with the departure of the Hogwarts Express. Harry had volunteered to go along with the train as part of the faculty presence, along with the Defense and Muggle Studies Professors. He wasn't worried about a Malfoy led assault on it, he was just getting nostalgic. Plus he wanted the experience of a train ride without being nervous about what was awaiting him at school, or the feeling of relief that he was escaping the Dursleys.

Neville continued his platonic seduction of Blaise Zabini, and was slowly eliciting some personal confidences from the other man. Among them was that he and Draco had had their friendship slowly unravel the last two years at Hogwarts, and that he felt no loyalty whatsoever to his former roommate. Neville was about another week from inviting him out for fish and chips with himself and Harry, something that went down at least twice a week.

Ginny served her suspension out quietly, she had been at WWW during Harry's visit to The Burrow, and prepared to go back to work on Monday. The end of the week saw her none the wiser about the activities of any of her brothers, untoward or otherwise.

Molly and Arthur lived life as normally as they could. They let nothing slip to Percy or anyone else, and did their best to pretend that The Order of the Phoenix, the Sequel, did not exist.

Due to faculty requirements on Harry and Hermione for Sunday, the weekly meeting of The Order was to be held on Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned.

End Chapter


	13. Prongs

Author's Note: As a reviewer correctly pointed out, I had Harry referring to Andromeda as Teddy's mother, when in fact she's his grandmother. I'm sure Nymphadora wouldn't have wanted Teddy at The Leaky Cauldron though either. Also, despite my reluctance for OC's in this story, some Hogwarts positions do need to be filled and they will be here.

Saturday, August 30, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

1:00 pm

The Order meeting, the true purpose of which was only known by a bit more than half the members, began as it always did: with food. Kreacher was in a American mood and made hamburgers and French fries, which horrified McGonagall to no end, but she still picked at some fries for lack of anything different. Her expression gave Kreacher no end of happiness, and he could be heard whistling very off-key for the rest of the afternoon as he cleaned up. Percy was not present, he had not inquired about when the next meeting might be and no one had volunteered it. Ginny had had it explained to her that even talking about the meeting to Percy would get her in parchment trouble and to leave it to Bill.

Once everyone was fed and watered, Bill called the meeting to order……pun intended.

"Okay then, let's get started. There are a few of you who don't know what the rest of us have been doing for the last few days. I'm going to fill you in now, please hold your questions until after Neville and I have finished."

Bill and Neville gave their report of the Percy situation, starting with their suspicions following the last meeting, and concluding with the fact that Neville's Listeners had neither been detected nor picked up anything of substance. Arthur, totally unaware of The Leaky Cauldron ploy until now, queried:

"So we know nothing more than we did on Sunday? Is that what you're saying?"

Harry answered him:

"Nobody knew that the three of us were dining at the pub Monday night, nobody outside this room and even then only a few people inside it. Hermione and I went from Hogwarts, and I checked The Marauder's Map, no unwelcome shadows."

Neville was next:

"Nobody from The Auror Academy knew either, and I flooed to WWW first, then to The Leaky Cauldron. It could only have come from Percy." He was actually quite proud of the trap he had set, and it was evident in his voice.

Ginny had been remarkably quiet thus far, 15 minutes into the meeting, but now let loose:

"So you all think that Percy is a traitor, again. You're saying that he never returned his love and loyalty to the family?" She said this with a 'I'm defending my brother' tone of voice, and once finished she looked right at Arthur and Molly. Still, it was Bill that responded.

"We think he might be, yes, though I won't speculate on when he might have turned on us again, that's for later."

"One missed meeting and some Listening Charms, that's all you have on him?" She sounded more skeptical than either of her parents had.

"We're not a court of law Ginny, we don't need anything more right now." Bill's longtime dislike of his button-downed brother was never more evident than it was now, and Ginny rounded on her parents:

"Are you two really allowing this? What the hell is going on with you people?!" She was making no effort to refute any of the evidence, and it was unclear how all encompassing she was being with 'you people'.

Arthur chose to assume that it just meant him and his wife.

"Calm down Ginny, we're not allowing anything, it's not our place. Bill is Head of The Order, the decision is his."

"Oh please, Bill does what Harry tells him to, he's simply the front man."

Harry startled them all by laughing out loud. It wasn't knee slapping or the like, and his ribs weren't hurting, but it was just shy of those things.

"You really are reaching Ginny, but keep going, it's pretty funny."

The look of loathing on her face made Ginny, an attractive young woman normally, look quite ugly. One might even call it Bella Lestrange-ish.

"Be grateful I signed that parchment Harry."

His response was another laugh, knowing that in this room, with this parchment signed audience, he had no need for his wand.

"You've got spirit, I've always admired that about you." He said no more, aware that Ron, Luna, and George were watching him for his response.

Ginny didn't know what to say to that, and to her credit didn't even try. Instead she turned back to Bill.

"What if I'm not willing to go along with this?"

"All those in favor of continuing our Percy operation as detailed, raise your hands."

Only Ginny, Molly, and Arthur kept their hands down. Bill looked pointedly at McGonagall, and his old Transfiguration teacher didn't let him down.

"I'm sorry Ginny, but we must see where this goes. I don't want to believe that Percy has backslid either, but the evidence at hand supports no other conclusion."

Harry, after seeing the vote, now went on a slight bit of offense on his ex.

"Tell us the alternative Ginny, come on, shatter us with your wisdom. Tell us one theory that remotely makes sense here.

And she was equal to the task, sort of:

"Has it even occurred to you that he might be playing Malfoy? That he might be working for Kingsley as a way to make things up to us?"

Of course it had occurred to everyone, and Molly and Arthur had privately agreed that it was more than possible. Bill answered:

"Yes Ginny, that has occurred to our limited minds. And yes, that's what we all hope is going on, that Percy is trying to bring them down. But he could bring them down while letting us know, so we can coordinate our actions with him and Kingsley."

"Then why don't you ask him? Just ask him what he's up to?"

"Because it wouldn't tell us anything but what he wanted us to hear. He could easily claim that he's working for Kingsley, but how would we know?"

"Veritaserum, that's how. You know why you won't use it? Because you're rooting for him to be guilty, that's why. You've never liked him, and didn't forgive him. Well I did and do like him, and I forgave him, because he's remorseful."

"Did he ask you about this weekend's meeting? Or even where you, Ron, Mum, and Dad were going today?"

This slowed the Ginny train down about 10 kilometers per hour, so to speak, but she still sped right along.

"He wasn't home when we left, I'm sure he'll ask tonight about the meeting for tomorrow."

"He won't ask, because he knows that he'll be asked to sign a parchment. Percy's not stupid, he knows he can't sign and still do what he's doing."

Neville now stepped forward.

"Tell you what Ginny, let's see if Percy asks about the meeting tomorrow. If he does, then we'll try things your way. If not, then we keep going as we are, with your full cooperation."

Bill wanted no part of this deal, and could see Harry's irritated look as well, but it was too late:

"Deal."

There was, however, a small catch, as Neville explained:

"You can't be there though Ginny, he has to ask Ron, Molly, or Arthur. George, do you mind having a guest stay at WWW tonight?" He didn't want Ginny doing her best to get around the parchment and see if she could warn Percy, and any half-wit could see from her facial expression that she had been planning precisely that. George had spotted this loophole too, and was happy to help close it.

"Not at all, it'll be a mixed slumber party. Ron, you and Luna are coming too, right?" George didn't fully trust Ron either.

Luna immediately started nodding, she thought a slumber party was a wonderful idea. She had been totally quiet during the discussion so far, aside from Hermione whispering to her about why this was the first she was hearing about Percy.

"Of course, I'll supply the food and games."

More than one person wanted to be a fly on the wall at that party, if Luna was in charge of entertainment and dining, and one of them spoke up.

"Well I'm coming too then, just don't keep me up too late, I've a game tomorrow afternoon." It was Katie, feeling that someone who wasn't close to Ginny should be there as well.

Ron too agreed that he was in, and it was all settled. Plans for Percy were now to be delayed until the next meeting, in eight days.

Once they were done, and it looked like Bill was about to move on to something else, Arthur cleared his throat.

"I do have some news as well, which probably has nothing to do with Percy." He hoped anyway.

Everyone looked expectantly at him.

"Dean Thomas has surfaced, and has been put into protective custody."

"What happened?" More people than fingers on a hand all asked this at once.

"It happened a week ago Friday, he just appeared at his flat, as if he'd never been gone. They had a listening post set up there and snagged him a few minutes after he got there. Kingsley took control of his situation and shut him up in the DMLE for the last eight days, I only heard about it in passing, via one of my deputies." That's all he would say on that matter, who had told him.

"You don't know what he told Kingsley?"

"I'm not supposed to know, officially, that he's there at all. But he is in a guest room at the DMLE and they're not letting him have any visitors. He's not under arrest, I know that much."

Harry immediately racked his brain for any favors that Kingsley might owe him, but agreed now with Hermione that he had used up any chits with the older man, because of his attitude.

Arthur turned to his daughter.

"Ginny, if Dean is likely to contact anyone in this room it would be you. Can we rely on you to be our point person here?"

"Of course, I'll tell you as soon as he does."

Everyone took 'you' to mean Arthur, not Bill, but in fairness she was in an office or house with her father around 20 hours each day, quite the proximity.

The rest of the session dealt with plans for next week, and what the first day of the new Hogwarts year was to be like. McGonagall and Flitwick were the first to leave, citing plans to make for school, while Slughorn joined Harry and others in the wine cellar, talking about Harry's first wine class, which had been Thursday.

The next day Puddlemere put a walloping on the Wimbourne Wasps, 400-0 as Oliver played the best game of his life in shutting out the third place team from the year before, while his main squeeze shredded her beau's counterpart for 14 goals. Harry, on orders from no one but himself, delayed a Snitch hunt for as long as possible so as to see how high the score could go. It didn't endear him to the Wasp's fans, but they hadn't helped their cause by mocking him throughout the pre-game introductions and warm-ups. Clive, after a hearty slap on the back that had nearly manually fused a couple of Harry's vertebrae:

"While I appreciate the cruelty of your strategy Harry, let's try not to do it again. We don't want an errant Bludger getting hold of someone now do we?" Which implied a very different conversation now if said Bludger had connected with a Puddlemere player while Harry was allowing the score to be run up.

"Yes sir."

But they were both smiling the smile of winners, Puddlemere was now 2-1, matching their victory total from the season before.

Percy had returned home late Saturday night, and was gone early on Sunday morning, the latter time not leaving a note or anything to indicate his whereabouts. When Ginny was told this she began crying, a rare sight for her. In her own mind, she still wanted to believe that Percy was on the up and up, but outwardly she had no choice but to agree to let the plans hatched by Bill and Neville carry the day.

Monday, September 1, 1999

King's Cross Station, Platform 9 ¾

10:30 am

Because almost all of his trips to King's Cross had been last minute affairs, due to security or Weasley lateness, Harry had never realized how many students actually got there early. They started trickling in at 9:00 am, mostly from muggleborn students who were getting off from other trains. Harry was joined on the platform by 42 year old Muggle Studies Professor Giles Keenan, the first muggleborn to hold that position in Hogwarts history. Keenan had been an impulse hire by McGonagall 13 months earlier, a thumb in the eye to the pureblood brigade who had given her so many problems.

Their fellow faculty member, Defense Professor Soren Bender, was on the muggle side of the platform, just in case some muggleborn students weren't sure of where to go. Bender, if she made it through the next 24 hours alive, was due to break the Defense jinx that had started with Voldemort wanting the gig. Harry had taken Bender's instruction as seriously as his sleep issues would let him, despite the fact that his battle experience seriously outstripped the 36 year old Manxwoman's, and they had become friends of a sort even before graduation. This had continued over the last few weeks even though it was common knowledge that Harry could have her job whenever he wanted it. The DA had continued as a club, under Bender's supervision, but Harry had declined to attend from the second meeting on once it became clear that half the students either wanted to duel him or hear stories from him. Those that wanted the duels were just eager to be able to say that they had dueled Harry Potter, no matter that it was under a controlled environment.

Harry and Giles were idly chit-chatting as they pointed students to various compartments on the train, and telling known hard cases that they would all be patrolling to make sure no funny business went on. The hardcore Slytherins of the past were mostly gone, to the point that there were few enough of them that any gang tactics they could employ had been rendered ineffective. Instead the various Prefects had taken control back the previous year, led by Hermione as Head Girl and Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, another Neville classmate at the Auror Academy, as Head Boy. So Harry, Giles, and Soren were anticipating a smooth ride, so to speak, as the 11:00 departure time neared.

"Are we taking wagers on whose House gets the first detention of the train ride?" Keenan's last job had been with Ladbrooke's, the famous bookmaker in England, on special assignment while consulting for Gringott's.

"All three of us are Gryffindors……oh yeah, how'd McGonagall allow that?" There were five members of the faculty from that House, the three of them plus Hagrid and Hermione.

"We were the only three that volunteered remember?"

"Right, I guess there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm was there. A galleon on Gryffindor to be the SECOND House to get a detention, I'd be flabbergasted if Slytherin wasn't first."

"Done, I'll take Gryffindor to be first and Slytherin second." They shook on it with a smile.

"Let that be the most exciting thing that happens on this ride and I'll be a happy man."

"I'd imagine you want a bit of boredom in your life for the time being."

"I'll stick with tormenting the fans of 12 Quidditch teams, it's quite enough for me now." If you only knew, he thought.

Keenan laughed, he had been at the game.

"Only five minutes to go, Soren should be back any minute now……..okay, here she is."

Indeed she was, as the former Auror came into view.

"That's all the muggleborn First Year students from my checklist, they should all be on board."

Harry and Giles hadn't really noticed, but then again any idiot should be able to figure out how to get on a train when they can see a couple hundred others doing it while they watch, or so they thought. It helped that, for the first time, Giles and Hermione, the only two muggleborns on the staff, had been sent to the houses of the muggleborn First Years for a brief explanation of how to get started. Hermione had been particularly vociferous in her lobbying for this:

"I can't tell you how much this would have helped me eight years ago, and it should have been done long before now."

Harry had agreed with her, telling the story about how he had needed Molly's help just to know where to get on the train, and he hadn't been the only one over the years. On the average, at least one muggleborn each year missed the train and had to be fetched via portkey.

McGonagall hadn't seen why centuries of tradition weren't good enough for the faculty's newest members, but all in all didn't see the harm if Hermione and Giles were willing to put the time in.

The conductor came out:

"Professors, it's 11:00 am." Time to leave.

Giles was technically the senior person of the three, by three weeks in his hire date, and so he responded:

"Very well Mr. Howatt, please get us underway."

The three of them hopped on to the train and about a minute later, it began chugging out of the station, heading north. The sky above was getting darker by the hour, storm clouds were gathering. If Harry didn't know better, he would say that it was almost dusk, rather than the approach of noon that it was.

The first hour of the ride was taken up with the Prefects' meeting, at least for Bender and Keenan. Harry, denied that 'honor' during his school days, declined to see the meeting from a different perspective, and instead spent his hour walking about the hallway. Since most of the students had gone to school with him, there wasn't a whole lot of 'Oooh, it's Harry Potter' going on, but more than a handful said that he looked a lot more rested than they had seen in recent months. It was uniformly meant as a compliment, even from both Slytherins who said it, and it usually led to a minute or two about Quidditch and whether it was worth it to either place a wager on Puddlemere in the coming weeks, or buy some of their merchandise.

Of course Harry's answer to both questions was yes, though he cautioned them that the Tornados were looking especially strong this year. They were next up for him, and he was looking forward to taking them on.

All in all it was a pleasant 60 minutes of time idly spent, confirmed by the looks on the faces of Giles and Soren as they exited the Prefects meeting and met Harry near the snack trolley.

"I can't believe the pettiness of some of those arguments, I swear most of those kids want to be Prefects because of the perks. Were we like that Giles? When we were that age?"

"I was probably worse actually, the bathroom was the reason I wanted it."

Harry smiled at hearing that.

"I was in that bathroom a couple of times."

He told them the story of the Tri-Wizard egg and Moaning Myrtle, to their great amusement. He chose not to tell them of the second time where he almost killed Draco Malfoy, though it was not a totally unpleasant memory if kept strictly to himself.

And Neville, who sage advice notwithstanding, loathed Draco even more than Harry did.

This started an hour of swapping Hogwarts stories, always amusing ones that lacked death. Bender and Keenan had only overlapped at the school by a year, so each story was new to the other two as Harry got to know his new colleagues on a personal level. They weren't worried about patrolling the train, because the Prefects were supposed to be taking care of that. A knock on the door interrupted them a little after 1:00 pm.

"Come in!"

It was Dennis Creevey, a Sixth Year Prefect in Gryffindor, sans any camera equipment.

"What is it Dennis?"

"Um, Professor Bender, Professor Keenan……err, Harry. I was told to report the first detention, and it's Draven Erickson, a Third Year Slytherin. He called a first year a mudblood and I gave the detention."

Keenan smiled at him:

"Thanks Dennis, let me know the second one and after that just give us a report when the train reaches Hogsmeade Station."

"Yes sir." He left, not knowing that he was helping settle a small wager.

"Well Harry, you're halfway there."

"It's not about the galleon, it's about the bragging." The two men shared a chuckle, and Harry then filled in a confused looking Bender.

She was mock put out that she had missed the gambling, and then looked out the compartment window.

"It's really getting dark out there, I can't believe it hasn't started to rain yet."

Keenan pulled his robes closer.

"I'm cold too, there must be a draft or something in here."

He could have used a Warming Charm, and Harry was about to point that out when he realized that he was getting cold too……..and Harry rarely ever got cold unless it was snowing out, he was forever inured to it from years of thin blankets in his cupboard at Planet Dursley. He also now noticed another anomaly:

"Does it feel like the train is slowing down?"

The other two looked at him, then each other, and all three got up quickly as if in sync. Harry, ironically the tallest of the bunch, was still the quickest and he got to the door first.

"I'll take the front." He strode off as quickly as he could in the enclosed space.

"I'll see to the rear." That was Bender, and she did the same.

Keenan would stay in the middle, though he was not without fighting abilities himself, whatever his current and former jobs were. He moved to another window and tried to keep a watch out, but he couldn't help but notice that the air kept getting chillier, or at least that's how he felt.

Meanwhile Harry was almost to the front when he passed the Prefects' section, as he did Natalie McDonald, Dennis Creevey's Prefect counterpart in Gryffindor came out.

"Harry, there's something going on." She sounded more panicked with every word.

"Tell me about it, what did you see?"

"Micah Slade had his omnioculars out and was playing with them, and he claims he saw a group of figures on brooms following us, and I could swear I heard a scream come from up front about a minute ago. I was coming out to find one of you guys."

"Are you guys getting cold?"

"It seemed like it, yeah."

"Got your wand?"

"Always." Natalie was a member of the D.A., and a candidate to lead it the next year, if she wasn't chosen for Head Girl.

"Come with me."

He moved forward and got past the students' part of the train, Natalie in tow, both their wands out and pointed forward.

They got to the conductor/engineer entrance, and Natalie was about to try and open the door when Harry stopped her. He did a quick and dirty scan for magical people, and found three.

There should have only been just one, Mr. Howatt.

With that knowledge, he did another scan for booby traps on the door, and found an Alarm Charm and a Blasting Charm, which presumably was set to blast in his direction. A bit redundant, he thought in the split second he had time to, the blast off of the door would be an alarm in and of itself. He turned to Natalie:

"Keenan's in the middle of the train, go tell him that we've got company, at least two maybe three. We might have to evacuate you guys if it comes to it. Go."

There were a million questions that she wanted to ask, but she did as instructed and ran back as quickly as she could.

Harry just stood there frantically thinking. He couldn't Apparate inside to fight them, since he had never been in that part of the train, and so couldn't spot his target, a key for Apparition. He noticed that the train was still slowing down, but gradually, as if the new conductor, or the man giving orders to the old one, was just going down five kilometers per hour here, five there. By now it was going about 2/3 of it's original speed, and would probably be at ½ in a matter of minutes.

He turned back and followed the way Natalie had come, but not before putting three different Locking Charms on the door, as well as an Alarm Charm of his own. The intruders could still get through without too much trouble, but it would slow them down and warn the good guys.

Harry got back to Natalie and Keenan, and they all saw Bender coming up from the rear.

"I put some stuff on the door, we'll know if they try to come out. What did you find Soren?"

"About 12 people following us on brooms, right on our six. The slowing of the train is letting them do that, I doubt they'd be able to go full throttle for very long otherwise, even drafting off our slipstream."

"I think I know why everyone is cold." Harry could see her nodding as soon as he said it.

"Dementors on the roof, there can't be that many or we'd all be catatonic by now. What do you suggest?" She assumed that Harry would have an idea or plan, and was not disappointed.

"Get the kids out now, have anyone underage take the portkeys and get to Hogwarts and sound the alarm. The rest of them, and us, can fight. That's still 50 people, they probably won't have that many assaulting us." To Harry it was the only plan, otherwise the train was like one big barrel of fish, waiting to be hosed down with muggle machine guns. Of course they could evacuate every single person, including the three of them, but that didn't seem to be a consideration here.

The portkeys were something that had begun with the 1998 iteration of The Hogwarts Express. They were in every compartment, and could only be activated with the word 'baseball', a word not likely to be said by a British teenager. The students didn't even know they were there, Harry had only been told during the summer staff meetings that he had attended, because McGonagall and Kingsley didn't want a bunch of bored kids going through every esoteric word they could think of, seeing if they could trigger it. Voldemort had never gone so far as to attack the train, but better safe than sorry, and there had been considerable debate within the DMLE on why this had never been done before.

Keenan was nodding.

"I agree." He looked at Bender.

"So do I, Natalie get to the south part of the train and tell anyone underage to grab on to the door bar and say the word 'baseball'. Make sure they know that all of them need to be hanging on before someone says it. Anyone left behind, and there will be an investigation afterward." She felt obligated to add that last part.

"So that's why the doors were different last year." No more knobs. She took off though, as Keenan and Bender began with the compartments in the middle, she going north, he going south toward Natalie at the end.

Harry chose not to join them, but instead walked slowly forward, trying to see where it was coldest. He found a spot that he 'liked', so to speak, and raised his wand toward the ceiling.

"Expecto Patronum"

Prongs appeared, and because of the tight space Harry barely got a look at him before he floated through the roof. He really wished he had a WWW Extendable Ear as he stood on his tiptoes, trying to hear what happened.

There was a decent bit of noise 'floating' down, if you will, and since a Patronus made no sound, he could only assume that it was the Dementor making it. He wondered who else besides himself and Bender was capable of casting it, Bender had not taught it the year before, and he didn't think that Keenan had the power to do it either. He waited about 10 seconds, and then launched another Patronus, sending it a bit to the north of the last one, where the sounds had led him to believe that the Dementor had fled to.

He could hear the other three knocking on doors, not waiting to be bidden to enter, and then giving their instructions. A well made portkey does not give off a 'pop' or a 'crack' when used, so he couldn't tell if the evacuation was proceeding according to plan. He wasn't hearing any shouting though, and now that he looked south, he saw Natalie going back to the end of the car and making sure that no one was in the compartments.

The train was down to 70 kilometers per hour, and Harry suspected that their broom followers were about to make contact, it was only a matter of time before the train stopped completely.

And lo and behold, the train was now slowing down again, and while Harry was no expert, he was sure that the engine had stopped altogether and they were just gliding forward on the tracks. It was a lot quieter anyway, and he rushed forward, coming up on Bender.

"It's showtime, we're stopping."

"We've probably got another minute or so, I've got one compartment left, the rest are all of age, and a few of them didn't want to stay."

"I'll wait for you, then we go forward. If we're stopped, it won't matter if we blast open that door."

"Be with you in a sec."

She opened the last compartment door without knocking, and took 20 seconds to apprise the students, all Seventh Year Ravenclaws of the situation. To a man, they were all males, they agreed to stay and fight. That made 54 people, including the three faculty, who were available for combat, and all 51 of the students had been told to wait for sounds of violence before leaving their compartments.

Harry and Soren then moved forward back to the conductor's door, the train was now going about 10 kilometers per hour at best, which was the pace of a really fast walk. They each got in the doorways of the compartments closest to it, and Bender motioned for Harry to blow the door.

He reached his arm around the doorway and took aim:

"Reducto."

Given the booby trap on the door, he figured he didn't need to scream it.

WHAM!!

The door blew off it's hinges quite spectacularly, and easily had enough force to travel down the length of the train, if it hadn't ricocheted quickly into the compartment that Harry had ducked into, coming within a few centimeters of taking his head off, or at the very least giving him a brutal haircut. The twin Alarm Charms went off as well, sounding much like a muggle fire alarm and hurting the ears of anyone within five meters. It lasted just ten of the longest seconds of the lives of Harry, Soren, and the two invaders.

Bender was ready first, and she charged out her compartment as soon the door hit near Harry, firing:

"Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Those were basically non-aimed, fired on general principles spells, but she got lucky with the second one and hit the first black hooded figure square in the stomach, dropping him/her on the ground. His/her compatriot ducked back and avoided the follow up shots that she sent forward.

Harry, after taking three seconds on a silent count to get his heart started, ran out into the hallway, firing nothing but minor jinxes and hexes, but as fast as possible. He hoped that Bender would take the hint, and she did.

Following right behind him:

"Bustaro! Bustaro!"

It was a modified version of Hermione's old flame in a jelly jar spell, and shot small fireballs into the conductor's compartment. It was only taught at the Auror Academy, where Bender had been an instructor until last year, but Harry heard her say the spells and immediately copied her:

"Bustaro! Bustaro!"

The invader, perhaps unaware of how many people were in opposition, had come out after the first two fireballs had impacted, only to be met with Harry's contribution. They both hit him, it was a male, square in the torso and in an instant his robes were covered in flame.

Now one's wand can, in theory, take care of that……but it's rather difficult to concentrate on the proper water spell when you're cooking like a hot dog, and the delay wound up costing him. Harry took aim:

"Petrificus Totalus."

That froze the man in place, and Bender only put the fire out when she realized that Harry had no plans to. They heard sounds of fighting behind them, and after a quick Harry renewal of the Alarm Charm on this section of the train, they moved toward the sounds.

Meanwhile, in the south part of the train:

Giles Keenan had graduated Hogwarts 24 years earlier, and had not raised his wand in anger since. This all changed today, as the trains flying followers waited until the train came almost to a stop before boarding, and they boarded at the back. There were a dozen of them in total, not counting the two up front and who knows how many Dementors up top, and they quickly moved double file through the last car of the train, which was used for freight and other sundry items destined for Hogsmeade itself. Their leader did a quick scan and found that all the kids were where they were supposed to be, his scan only reaching the back two compartments on each side, which housed mostly Seventh Year students from the various Houses, including Slytherin, all of whom had chosen to fight.

The leader used his wand and flipped open the door, and easily deflected the Stunner than Keenan threw at him.

"Ah the mudblood, excellent. Avada Kedavra!"

Not so fast there villain, as Keenan was arguably in better physical condition than anyone on the faculty save Harry, and ducked under the Killing Curse without much problem. He started sending more Stunners down the aisle, and this was the cue for the kids.

They aped Harry, unknowingly, and reached their wands around the corners of their compartments and sent a fusillade of Stunners toward the hooded figures. The bad folk were bunched up some, and it took some pretty stout shields to disperse 20 Stunners that would have impacted on them. Keenan started using Reducto as well, trying to batter the shields down as he heard footsteps behind him. He didn't dare turn around, a few nasty hexes were still coming his way from those bad folk using small holes in the overlapping shields. It turned out that he didn't need to turn around though, as Bender called out:

"Behind you Giles, Harry and Soren."

Just in time for Harry to dodge a Killing Curse, which planted itself half a meter away, into one of the walls. He knew that he could get away with Avada Kedavra here, in theory, but instead started hammering away with Reducto. Bender, as the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, had Avada Kedavra privileges by definition, and decided to use them against a posse of invaders targeting a train full of schoolchildren:

"Avada Kedavra!"

It slammed right through the shield network the bad folk had set up, and while it didn't actually hit anyone, barely, it did dissolve the shield.

Which was the whole idea, she wanted as many of them kept alive to question as possible. Harry screamed at the students to start another Stunner fusillade, and he sent a few more fireballs into the invaders before they could get their shield network back up, and they did get it back up, but not before having three of them knocked unconscious and two more set on fire.

But the book was now written on how to get rid of it, and Bender knocked it back out with another Killing Curse, which this time did kill one person as it went a bit sideways after pushing through five overlapping shields.

"Harry!"

It was coming from behind him, and Harry turned to see Dennis Creevey facing a Dementor as it quickly advanced on him. A wisp of white cloud was coming from Dennis' wand, and while it was better than nothing, it wasn't doing much to slow the Dementor down.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

This time he screamed it and Prongs was equal to the task, getting to the Dementor just as it was about to make a snack out of Dennis' soul.

"Accio Dennis!"

The younger Creevey flew right back to Harry at high speed, and would have crashed into Harry if not for him cutting off the spell. Instead he just landed in a heap, and was quickly hauled up and pointed south.

"Start firing Stunners as hard as you can."

Dennis was a bit shaken, but Harry would later reflect that the kid had a lot of minerals to stare down a Dementor and not wet himself, and stand his ground no less. He turned the way Harry told him to and some decent powered Stunners came out of his wand. The bad folk were concentrating so hard on keeping their shields up that they didn't get much in the way of offense going.

Harry ran down to the north part of the car, only to come in contact with another pair of Dementors, which he soon dispersed with another Prongs ride. Natalie soon ran up to join him, and her Patronus, while not corporeal, was still better than Dennis', and helped Harry drive back the now three Dementors.

Harry yelled out:

"Any Seventh Years still in the north of the train, take the portkey and find out where the bloody hell the Aurors are! Go now!" He figured/hoped/prayed, that there were only Dementors left in this part of the train, and so figured that he and Natalie could keep them at bay.

At the back of the train Bender was getting a bit tired after her sixth Avada Kedavra, and decided that perhaps it was time to test the enemies strength. She kicked at the door nearest her:

"Get out here!"

Five Slytherin Sixth Years came out, all of whom were not Death Eater implicated. She did the same to the door opposite her, and five Seventh Year Gryffindors came out.

"Follow me, make sure you don't hit any friends."

Ten nods greeted her, as she could hear Keenan and Dennis directing fire at the still somewhat strong shield wall.

"CHARGE!"

Bender started running down the narrow hallway, Slytherin Prefect Conner Greengrass by chance beside her:

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"REDUCTO!"

The other nine followed with Reducto Curses, that remarkably didn't hit anyone that they shouldn't have hit. Eleven powerful curses hit the shield wall, disintegrating it again, and killing another invader.

"STUPEFY!"

Ten more followed her and slammed into the now defenseless invaders, knocking out all but two of them, but the two included their leader. He backed away quickly, and loosed off:

"Avada Kedavra!"

It hit Bender's robes, but not Bender herself, but Efrimias Yaxley didn't know this, as he Apparated away, leaving his assault force behind. Of the eleven of them left, two were dead, nine knocked out, and the remaining one was quickly stunned.

Bender put her hand on Conner Greengrass's arm.

"Make sure they all stay unconscious, we don't need them Apparating away on us."

"Gotcha." He motioned for his fellow students to come forward, and at his signal they started pouring Stunners into the unconscious bodies, effectively putting all of the prisoners into comas.

Bender didn't see any of this, as she was running back down the passageway. She could see Harry and Natalie keeping the Dementors at bay, but the fourth and final Dementor had joined them and Harry was rapidly tiring with the effort of keeping his foes off the two of them.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Bender added her golden retriever Patronus to the mix, and this slowly began to push the Dementors back a bit. Keenan came up as well, and his mist was a little more solid than Natalie's was, but every bit helped…….and it was enough, as within 15 seconds of Keenan's mist making contact, Kingsley Shacklebolt and ten Aurors filled the hallway, coming via reverse portkey. They added their Patronuses to the mix, and quickly won the day, as they were driven back to the very front. Maher and Pullman, Kingsley's security detail, strode forward and threw what looked like muggle nets over them.

Harry momentarily wondered what the hell that was supposed to accomplish, but was soon enlightened when two more Aurors aimed their wands at the nets:

"Activate!" "Activate!"

The nets, it turned out, were portkeys, and the Dementors vanished.

Kingsley turned to Maher and Pullman.

"Make sure there's no one else outside, and detail some people to take care of any dead bodies. Harry, were any students injured?"

"I didn't see any, Soren?"

"Not that I saw."

Harry and Soren both leaned against the wall opposite each other, with very tired expressions on their faces. They had done most of the work, in what was a very action packed five minutes of their lives. Harry looked at Natalie:

"100 points to Gryffindor Natalie, and another 100 to you Dennis, for your bravery and steadfastness."

Bender was likewise grateful.

"And 100 points to Slytherin for Mr. Greengrass, thank you Conner."

All three of them beamed, and a Slytherin was actually seen shaking the hand of a muggleborn as Conner reached his hand out to Dennis. It was a nice moment, and broken only when Harry looked at Kingsley.

"Do I want to know what kept you?"

End Chapter


	14. Self Examination

Monday, September 1, 1999, continued

Hogwarts Express

1:15 pm

"Do I want to know what kept you?" He said this with tired curiosity, he knew there must be something.

"This was not the only attack today, if that's what you were wondering."

"I wasn't really, but thanks for telling me." Harry had a faint smile on his face as he said it, taking the bite out of the comment, and the same sort of smile was returned in kind.

Bender only had a vague idea of the beyond complicated friendship of Harry and Kingsley, and wasn't terribly in the mood to try to decipher the subtext of each of their comments…….so she felt free to ask:

"Where else did they attack?"

"There was a Dementor attack on Diagon Alley, and a few muggleborn houses got hit. Nothing major individually, but they spread us quite thin. The dozen of us are about all that was left at The Ministry, so we were sent up here, it took a couple of floo calls. Besides, your youngsters were verbally fighting with each other to tell McGonagall what happened, took some time." The Ministry was currently in total lockdown, with no access in or out except through Gawain Robards' private floo, an address that less than a dozen people nationwide were privy to.

"Was anyone killed at the other places?"

"There were two souls lost in Diagon Alley, and six muggleborns were killed. I should tell you Harry, that George and Ron Weasley were among the first to the scene at Diagon Alley and their Patronuses helped buy enough time for our people to get there."

Harry didn't smile at that, celebrating that 'only' six people died and two more that might as well be dead. But he was very proud of his friends.

"They're good men to have with you in a fight. So was this the diversion, or the other attacks? Because they didn't really put up a fight against us did they?"

Kingsley and company still had no concrete idea of what had happened. So Bender and Keenan filled in the Aurors on most exciting five minutes in the history of The Hogwarts Express.

Before giving his views, Kingsley first turned to Robyn Maher:

"Go up there and see if the train is still operational. I don't know about the schedule, but I have to think that the muggles are going to need this track at some point." It would stand to reason, though they had only been stopped about 10 minutes. Maher departed, and everyone thought about the matter at hand.

"Let's see what our prisoners say, and congratulations to all of you for capturing so many alive."

"I only used the Killing Curse to break the shields, I wasn't really trying to kill anyone." Not that she was terribly broken up about the two fatalities.

"Well you did what you had to do Soren, there will certainly be an Order of Merlin for all three of you, and likely the three students as well. I guess it was a good thing you got nostalgic, eh Harry? I doubt Vector or Sprout could have fought off Dementors." He was smiling for real now, and Harry even laughed for a second.

"I'm fairly handy to have around, I'll grant you that."

Maher came back:

"The conductor, Howatt, was only Stunned, not killed. He looked things over and said that he can get us underway in a couple of minutes." Very curious that, Howatt still being among the living.

"Good, but I think we'll have the rest of the students leave via portkey and let the train go up by itself, with some Auror escort. We can't take the chance that our foes, whomever they are, won't have something else waiting. But I agree with Harry here in that this assault was rather ineffectual. Only a handful of Avada Kedavras' fired, and from one person only at that." Keenan had mentioned that most of the invaders had only used their wands for the shield wall.

Harry had been pondering that during the telling of the story, and something clicked for him. He walked up to Kingsley.

"May I speak with you alone?"

"Of course." Kingsley knew this would be good, and once they were in a locked, Silencing Bubble'd compartment, he was not disappointed.

"I think I was the target here."

"But not to kill you." Very few curses had even been thrown his way, and he was rather distinctive looking and easy to spot. True, one Killing Curse had been among them, but it wasn't exactly fired at him with an SAS sniper's precision.

"No, to get me to kill."

That hung heavy in the air for a moment.

"Just between the two of us Harry, did you kill anyone? I know the story that was told, but………" He didn't sound skeptical, but it was in the air.

"I fired a couple of Reducto curses into their shield wall, but I don't think anything penetrated. I would have let that guy burn to death sure, but Soren put the fire out. That's it. I'd tell you if I had, I promise." He was a bit put out that he had to convince Kingsley of all people, and the older man noticed that.

"I believe you, don't worry. And the more I think about it, the better your theory sounds. I have a hunch that we'll be seeing another issue of The True Voice very soon, perhaps by the end of the week. Somehow they'll know every detail of what went on here."

"One of the Slytherin kids will tell their parents I'm sure, wouldn't take much effort really."

"Do you think some of them stayed behind by prior arrangement?"

"They're not as bad a bunch as they used to be, but there must be some left, I find it hard t believe that all of the bad apples have been removed."

"We'll find out what the prisoners say about that, if they know anything. Something tells me that whoever Apparated away was the brains of the operation."

"What are you going to do with the captured Dementors? I mean they can't be questioned can they?"

"We'll keep a couple of them in captivity to do research. Maybe all of them, I don't know. Personally I think they should all be destroyed, but it would probably help to try and understand their power and all that. The Unspeakables will have a lot to do now, this is more their area."

"I'd like to be kept in the loop if you don't mind, after you question the prisoners."

"And why would I do that?" Said with a 'what do I get out of this' veneer.

"Because I didn't bust your minerals for outing us to McGonagall and Flitwick."

Kingsley started chuckling, and stood up.

"Fair point, I was half expecting a Howler."

"I took my medicine like a man thank you, but since I'm the headliner in The True Voice Part II, I would like to know as much as possible."

"I can go along with that. Come by the office tomorrow after you drop off Teddy, we'll talk then."

Hermione had been all over Harry, figuratively, about being more conciliatory with Kingsley, and he was astounded that it actually seemed to be working.

"I'll be there around 4:00 pm."

"Until then." He opened the door, dissolving the Silencing Bubble with his wand.

"And Kingsley?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

Indeed it was working, as Kingsley had a genuine smile on his face.

"You're welcome Harry, it's nice to be working with you again." He left, and Harry soon followed.

Where, to Kingsley's mild objections and Bender's vehement ones, he informed everyone that by God he was going to get his train ride.

"I'll stay on with the Aurors and see it into Hogsmeade Station. Just tell Hermione that I'm perfectly okay and I'll see her and everybody else in a few hours."

He would brook no argument, and walked up to the conductor's station to let Howatt know that everyone was ready. The train started up, and being a magical one, was going full tilt in about 30 seconds. All but Harry and three Aurors Apparated away, with Kingsley giving Harry a look that was full of pity, as Bender said it out loud:

"I'll tell Hermione, but it's your funeral."

"You can both be my pallbearers." He walked into a compartment at random, locked the door……

And somehow staved off a nervous breakdown. The flying door had missed him by the length of a fingernail, and the Avada Kedavra by about twice that. The next hour, a mercifully uninterrupted hour, was spent replaying those two events over and over in his mind.

And it bothered him that it bothered him. It never had before really.

"You know, when the basilisk bit me and I was about to die, I was more concerned with Ginny being okay, I didn't worry about dying. And when we were on Buckbeak and I was about to slip off, or Voldemort torturing me, or………" He found talking out loud to be quite cathartic as he listed every single time that he was on death's doorstep over the first seven year of his magical life, and it was a lengthy list at that.

"What I mean is that none of them bothered me that much. I was used to being miserable, and maybe a way out of it wasn't so bad, was it? It's not suicide, I didn't ask to be put in those situations really, there were things that had to be done and I did them, or tried to do them. But now I'm happy, or whatever passes for happy in my weird existence. I have Hermione, someone who finally loves me for me. I have Quidditch, which isn't so bad now that I have a game each week to actually look forward to. I have……..dang it, I finally have a reason to live. And now those idiot Malfoys are trying to take it away from me!"

It went on that like awhile, as he ranted about Malfoys, Death Eaters, and everyone else that wanted to deny him any fun in his life. He even took on Dumbledore and Snape a little bit, feeling that his student experience had been beyond warped by the old man's need to keep his weapon on some kind of edge, while he certainly felt that Snape had gone beyond the call of duty in making sure that the Slytherins knew that he hated Harry. The ranting eventually stopped when his voice started going hoarse, and he wouldn't give in to temptation to call for Kreacher to get him a cough drop.

He spent the rest of the ride reading a muggle spy thriller that he had picked up while wandering around his neighborhood bookshop, trying to relax in front of the inevitable confrontation with Hermione that he knew was coming. And it was coming, of a sort.

Flashback to a few minutes after the train started re-rolling:

McGonagall's office:

"He what?" This was Hermione, reacting to Bender's news that Harry had elected to stay on the train for the ride up.

Bender repeated the news, and a mass shaking of heads began among the faculty. The students were all in their Common Rooms, aside from those who had participated in the fighting. They were being debriefed by a team of DMLE investigators. Not Aurors, but personnel who cleaned up after them, so to speak. McGonagall had her own theories about Harry, but he was the last thing she wanted to discuss among the faculty.

"Harry will be fine. Now we are going to have the Welcoming Feast go as normally, well as normally as this situation allows. Hagrid will keep the First Years occupied with his tour of the grounds, and we have to make sure that everything is nice and calm. They've been shook up enough for the day. I'm still trying to process it, an attack on the train. It's never been done before, even Voldemort did not sink so low." She knew that she would get the straight scoop from Kingsley, as per their arrangements, and was very interested on who had led a suicide run on a train with more battle hardened teenagers than any in magical history. She looked around the room for a moment and continued:

"Filius, Pomona, please find Hagrid and the kids and join them. The rest of you fan out to the various Common Rooms and see if there are any questions or concerns. We need to be their for the students today. Dismissed." Not said trying to be preemptory, McG was a bit softer with the teachers since she had taken over.

On the way out, Bender took Hermione by the arm.

"Let's go up to Gryffindor shall we?"

Since this was where Hermione was going to anyway, she put up no argument. They walked in silence for a moment, until they reached a spot with no paintings on the wall. Then Bender slowed her gait considerably.

"Look, be easy on Harry when he gets back."

"What do you mean? Why would I be hard on him?" She was a bit confused by this line of conversation.

"Because he took the train up."

"And you have a theory on why he did that I take it?" Hermione liked Bender on the whole, but was still a little unsure of whether there was friendship in their near future.

"The door nearly nailed him, the Killing Curse almost got him in the head……..two, very near death experiences. His first in over a year, if I remember correctly." And within five minutes of each other no less, though she did not mention this.

"You do, nothing really happened last year, other than his sleeping problems. Are you saying that he's………"

"Having a nutty? Pretty much. I could see it in his eyes, and his hands were shaking a little bit when he told us that he was staying on the train."

"Let's say that you're right, why wouldn't he have it here? He could just go in his office, or mine, and we could talk about it." She really didn't like the idea of Harry being alone during any kind of episode like that, even if that's what he chose.

"Maybe he wanted to be alone when it happened. Look, I don't know for sure, I obviously don't know him nearly as well as you. But I've seen Aurors come back from battle, I've been there myself, and it's not uncommon." Bender had been an instructor at the multi-national Auror Academy during the Voldemort takeover of The Ministry. Magical Great Britain had been booted out of that arrangement during the end of Tom Riddle's reign, via Pius Thicknesse, hence Neville being trained right in merry old London.

"He never seemed to go all strange before." Indeed, she felt that Harry rather brushed off his previous near death experiences.

"And maybe he's not now, I don't know. But people change Hermione, they grow up and evolve. Perhaps Harry has a different view on life than he did before." She started walking normally again, feeling that her work here was done. Soren realized not so deep down that she would probably be without a soul at present if Harry had not been on the train…….though she could have held off the Dementors herself and probably taken a Killing Curse to the back for her trouble. Neither option was very appealing.

Hermione, for her own part, chewed on this bit of insight all the way to her old stomping grounds, where she found that every Gryffindor who had been near the fight was still in DMLE debrief, so Bender was the star……and as the star, was pleaded with to talk about the battle.

Which she did, better they hear the definitive version from someone who had seen it, rather than from rumor and innuendo. Even Hermione was riveted, and she had heard the Cliff's Notes version while in the Headmistress' office. Giles Keenan was technically Head of House here, but he was with the DMLE investigators, acting as a pseudo-solicitor for the students being questioned. Bender highlighted Harry's role, particularly given which House they were in, but also the role of Connor Greengrass of Slytherin, who had been right beside her for the final charge.

The talk went on the for the better part of two hours, as more and more of the upperclassmen returned from their debriefs and joined in. Much speculation went on about the motives of the attackers, and what was really going on. Hermione knew more than everyone else did, but did an excellent job of pretending that she knew even less than Bender, who presumably had DMLE contacts that she could draw information from.

With about 40 minutes to go before the train was due to arrive, Hermione excused herself and went to meet it. It was 20 minutes just to get to the front gates of the school, and then she Apparated from there………only to find that the train was early, and just pulling in. It turned out that losing the tonnage of a few hundred kids made the top speed of the train a lot faster. Harry was the first one off, by now the Aurors had Apparated away, and did not look the least bit surprised to see his lady waiting for him.

"Hey Hermione, how was your day?"

"Rather boring, I take it yours was more exciting?"

"A bit on the tense side, but I'm still kicking."

He seemed fine, but she still enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Are you okay?"

"Not a scratch on me, I swear."

"On the outside perhaps."

"Which one, Soren or Kingsley?" He could tell that he guessed right when he felt her body immediately tense up.

"Soren, she said that you might have a…….."

"A breakdown?"

"I think her phrase was more along the lines of 'a nutty'." She was surprised to hear Harry laughing into her hair.

"She's pretty perceptive, I saw her watching me."

"So you were?"

Harry pulled apart from her, so that he could look into her eyes.

"I was, yeah. But I got it out of my system for now, in private. I needed to do it that way."

"You know you can tell me anything Harry, it's okay to admit that you were scared."

He waved that off.

"Oh I wasn't scared during the skirmish, hell no. I was totally in the moment. It wasn't until afterwards, when I realized what almost happened, that's when I started to feel……well whatever I was feeling. I don't know if I was scared, weary, worried, it could have been anything really."

"You were never like that before." She just couldn't let go of that in her mind.

"I never had anything to lose before, now I do."

Hermione was not above comparing Harry to Ron, even now, and reflected that Ron would never have said anything like that. He would probably have never even thought of it that way, even thought she knew that Ron too would have risked his life for her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. C'mon, let's get up there." He took her hand and they walked up to school.

On the way she told him of the aftermath at Hogwarts and what Bender had told the Gryffindors.

"She's really good in a fight, Soren is. I think if we're going to have another expansion of The Order it should include her."

"You trust her?"

"I don't trust McGonagall or Ginny, and they're in with us."

Eh?

"You don't trust McGonagall? Why not?"

"She's got her own power base to think of, her own influence. I know she's not going to let it go to her head like Dumbledore did…….but it's a matter of degrees really. When push comes to shove she'll only go along with Bill and I if it suits her own purposes."

"But until then, keep her in the fold."

"Sure, it's not like we have a choice. We might as well benefit from her influence while we can, she can open doors within The Ministry and Wizengamot that we can't, just because of her title."

Hermione liked talking about these things with Harry, his mind worked differently than hers and made it interesting, and now was no different. But she was a bit worried that he had had his nutty and seemed to be suffering no ill effects. She resolved to figure out a way to share these concerns with Neville, perhaps the Listening Charms next to Harry's room needed to be paid attention to for the next day or so.

They weren't in any hurry, the Welcoming Feast wasn't for another hour, so they walked casually slow. Harry gave his version of the battle, and what he and Kingsley had talked about. While pleased that Harry was being polite to the Head Auror now, Hermione was curious about something:

"Do you really think he'll share those reports with you?"

"Probably not, at least not the unadulterated version of them. I wouldn't if I were him."

"Good thing you got him to agree to it then, you can use it later."

"Yeah, he probably should have said 'I'll see what I can do' or something like that, or punted it off to Robards. For all his and Robards snarky comments about us not being politicians, they're not much better at it."

In a few minutes they were at the doors, and Harry just automatically headed to McG's office. The two of them found her there alone, trying to reduce the paper pile on her desk. A pile that had been added to with the need to notify parents that there had been no 'good guy' fatalities this day.

"Well there you are, how are you feeling Harry?"

"I'm fine ma'am." Harry was still not used to calling her by her first name.

McG suppressed the desire to laugh for some reason, thinking that if he was fine he wouldn't have spent three hours alone in a train compartment. But she let it go for now.

"I'm glad you were there Harry, very glad. Of the absent faculty only Filius and I could have cast the Patronuses you did, you saved a lot of lives." Harry was only on the train in the first place because Hogwarts Express day was a magical holiday, all non-essential services gave their employees the day off, hence no Quidditch practice.

"I'm glad I was there too Minerva." He then recounted the substance of his Kingsley conversation to her.

"Well I agree, he'll feed you what he needs to, but nothing else. I doubt he will do me any better, but I'm in a position to insist, rather than just ask, as you and Bill are."

"I hoped as much, I'm sure Bill will agree."

"Let's see what he tries with you before I get involved. Now another, more mundane, matter: Do you have your schedule ready for the flying lessons?"

"Yes ma'am, I decided to start them next week, with two rounds of following up as needed."

"And you're still resolute in not mixing the Houses?"

"Yes I am, the constant mixing of Slytherin and Gryffindor was criminal negligence, particularly with Snape's behavior."

"There were reasons for that, as you well know." McGonagall got less enthusiastic about that line of defense with every utterance, but the battery hadn't quite died yet.

"I'm sorry, I know that Snape was on the right side all along, and that you don't like anyone criticizing Dumbledore, but there were times when they went overboard, and that was one of them. I will not repeat those mistakes if I can help it. The students should have the best environment to learn, even something as relatively inconsequential as flying."

Harry, independently of Hermione, had decided a few weeks ago that if he was going to be a teacher, he was going to go all the way and do the job right. It was also good prep work if he ever took up the Defense job. So better to get these arguments out of the way now, rather than next year, maybe, when the stakes would be considerably higher.

"I'm not disagreeing with you necessarily Harry, I just think this year might be a turning point in Slytherin/Gryffindor relations." Still, she was relieved that he was taking his responsibilities seriously, yet not making them sound like the most important thing in the world, it was only flying after all.

"I hope so too, and the follow up lessons might be merged. But the first time? The time most nervous for muggleborns should not have anymore peer pressure than necessary. I know Neville would have benefited from that back in the day."

This was Harry's new hobby when dealing with McGonagall, at least when talking about Dumbledore and Snape: He brought up Neville, and how much earlier Neville could have reached his potential, if only he hadn't had constant harassment from Snape and Draco. It worked like the proverbial charm, as McGonagall would always get a guilty look on her face and change the subject.

Which she did now.

"Well just get me your paperwork by tomorrow afternoon. Now off to the Great Hall both of you, I'll join you there in a few moments."

Harry and Hermione left, only for her to start giggling as soon as the door was shut.

"You just love to tweak her about that don't you?"

"It's the gift that keeps on giving." He was laughing now too, much to her relief. He really did seem to have gotten it out of his system.

They got to the Great Hall only to find it half full already, with a lot of students getting cabin fever from the their dorm rooms and Common Rooms and wanting to get some good seats. This time Harry's appearance caused some buzzing, but he was mercifully left alone as he took his place at the faculty table. Over the next 15 minutes the place filled up, with only spots at the end of the four tables left open.

The Hogwarts Class of 2006 was quite large, over 60 kids. It was a reflection of the relative peace that their society had had 12 years earlier, counting womb time, and was the largest Hogwarts intake since Dumbledore had black hair in his beard. They filed in behind Transfiguration Professor Milo Sonnanstine, McG's replacement, and one by one they sat before the hat.

Hufflepuff got the largest cut, with 18 kids going there, followed by Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin in that order. The only unusual thing was that legacy students, at least those with siblings among the current crop, were uniformly put in other Houses than those of said siblings. Even Markus Ryffell, whose four older siblings were all in Ravenclaw at various years, was put in Gryffindor. It wasn't until a few days later that people began talking about it, but the word quickly spread through the school. The Hat had been behaving oddly as well, eschewing a song for the third time in the last four years.

McGonagall's speech was quite short, she introduced Harry and Hermione as the only new members of the faculty, and reminded everyone of the rules and so and so forth. A few new security restrictions were announced, having been hastily come up with by McGonagall and Flitwick right before the meal. She was frank in telling the student body that while the train assault was still under investigation, measures were to be taken to make Hogwarts more secure.

"This should not impact the first Hogsmeade visit, which in any case will not be until next month at the earliest, as we expect to know much more by then. Nor will Quidditch be affected for the time being. Mr. Potter will have schedules posted for flying lessons and Quidditch tryouts by this time tomorrow. We will give you further updates as events dictate."

This was the McG style of speeches. She was not the folksy talker that Dumbledore had been, and made little attempt to put anyone at ease. Slughorn always remarked that she was 'as blunt as a sledgehammer and just as uninteresting'. That said, the students could all understand what she said and meant, which they could not often do under Dumbledore.

After the meal the Prefects and such led everyone back to their Houses, while the faculty gathered in McGonagall's office, where Kingsley and company were waiting. The Headmistress barely gave them all time to find places to sit before she addressed him:

"Kingsley, what did you discover?"

"Unfortunately, not very much that can be called concrete. In all there were 11 men captured, two from the front of the train and nine from the back. None of them are from Great Britain. I am speaking strictly of the train assault when I say this of course."

The silence hung in the air, despite the presence of almost 20 people. Kingsley seemed to be waiting for someone to say 'huh?', but when that wasn't forthcoming, he continued.

"We have established that four of the men are from France, three from Ireland, and one each from Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, and Switzerland. We have owls on their way to the seven governments to see if these men have any criminal records and such. Veritaserum only works in the native language of the one being questioned, so we have only been able to question the three from Ireland. They have no recollection of anything specific, other than that they were to follow the lead of the man in charge and do what he said."

Harry couldn't resist, and when Kingsley paused for breath:

"Something tells me that they didn't know his name."

"All three referred to him as Archon, which fits no first or last name in our records. He could be another foreign Wizard, we don't know. We should know more once we get records delivered on our prisoners, but right now it appears that they were either under Imperious or had their memories significantly altered, or both. Once we have translators in place we should know more." He didn't say that that last part was not going well, they were having a hard time rounding up speakers of Bulgarian, Estonian, and Finnish that could be trusted. The only speaker of German within The Ministry was Kingsley himself, so he would be personally seeing to the questioning of the prisoners from Germany and Switzerland.

So it appeared that they knew precisely squat, as some of the less prominent faculty took some shots at The Ministry for allowing the attacks in the first place. Kingsley was calm and assured as he told them that current intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence snooping were going as well as could be expected given their lack of resources.

Harry knew that Neville's Listeners in Percy's office hadn't been discovered, so the counter-intelligence snooping couldn't have been too good. Still, he held off on any sniping, and made no further comments after that first one. He didn't want the rest of the faculty to know his interest, and to his relief, none seemed to be looking at him before or after they asked their questions or made their comments. And they made a lot of them.

Hermione did ask some questions, but more in a way to shape the debate than anything, trying to lead Kingsley into positions where he would have to share more information than he might want to. It didn't work for the most part, after years of pretending to search for Sirius Black no one could be more smilingly bland than Kingsley, but he was forced to reveal that if the attacks continued, civil liberties would likely be curtailed to some degree. There was not going to be a repeat of the Voldemort business.

In all it lasted an hour, and left pretty much everyone feeling unsatisfied. Any hopes that the four Order members had of Kingsley sharing more with just them were dashed when he said polite goodbyes and left, claiming that he needed to get back to work. That this was true in no way mitigated their irritation with it. Harry and Hermione repaired to her office, and flooed right to Grimmauld Place, where Neville was waiting. He had been locked in The Ministry all afternoon during the attacks, and had only even heard about them, all of them, after it was all over. It wasn't until they got Bill and Fleur over there that they learned much of anything. Bill:

"They announced it on the WWN, the train assault I mean. We all knew about Diagon Alley of course, and they leaked word about the muggleborn people who were killed. They picked a good day to do that kind of plan too, if not for the national holiday, none of those muggleborns would have been home."

"Was I brought up?" Harry, contrary to his adversarial relationship with The Daily Prophet, was on good terms with the WWN, including a couple of Quidditch-centric interviews in the last month. Ron and George had piped in the interviews to the shop, and both of them agreed that it was quite creepy to hear their mate on the radio.

"During the announcement yes, they said that you and the other two teachers held off the attackers. They didn't say who the other teachers were though." Names of Aurors, even retired ones, were rarely released to the general public, even if some of them became known anyway.

"I don't think Giles wants that much publicity, or people going through his background. Did you know him when he worked for Gringotts?"

"I knew of him, but he was in place in the muggle world before I went to work there. I gather that his assignment was discontinued for some reason, maybe they thought he was becoming too muggle-like. I take it you chatted with him?"

"I did, with him and Bender. They're good people."

"You want them in with us?" Bill had briefly gone to school with Soren, but had never spoken with her.

"I do, but let's let things with Percy shake out first."

"I'm beginning to re-think that Harry, I have to wonder if we should just confront him."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's causing a lot of havoc within the family, and I have to wonder if that's their plan."

"Ginny's still not convinced?"

"No, she thinks that he's playing whomever he's supposedly working for."

"Does he really have the skill to do that?" Harry refused to believe that Percy was totally on their side.

"No, I really don't think that he does. But Mum, Dad, and Ginny want to believe it, and it's starting to wear."

"What about Ron and George?"

"Oh they can't stand Percy, they dislike him more than anyone save the two of us. No, it's the three of them starting to dig in their heels. How far along are you in your Malfoy Manor plans?"

"I've got some plans started on paper, but I would need to know how many people we have to do the job."

"Figure on the five of us and Luna, and either Ron or George, but not both. I'm not sticking every Weasley male on the line here."

"You realize that if we get caught, there'll be carnage. Either during or after."

"That's why I've been reluctant to do it until now. But you were almost killed, I shudder to think what they would have done to those kids if you and Bender hadn't been there to stop them."

Neville had a query:

"Harry, how many people knew that you were going to be on that train?"

"I didn't say it in front of Percy's Charms, if that's what you're asking."

"I was, but who else would have known?"

"Beats me besides the faculty and Kingsley. It would be whomever else he told, and maybe McGonagall too." He privately wondered if those two particular people were asking themselves this same question. He suspected that at least Kingsley was.

"Did Molly and Arthur know?"

"I mentioned it at the meeting on Saturday I think."

"I think we need to step things up, and capture somebody. Now Kingsley said that you could do whatever you want to your Malfoy tail as long as the muggles don't see, right?"

"Right."

"So we lure the tail into someplace isolated and do what we need to do. We need answers, and before we try any kind of raid on what must be a very secure Malfoy Manor, we need to find out more of what we're up against."

Fleur had been quiet up until now, and she had a point to add:

"Plus, I think for the rest of us, some refreshing of our skills might be in order. A live fire exercise I believe you might call it."

It now went without saying that Harry had gotten his own refresher course, and both he and Hermione had not mentioned his mini-meltdown afterward. Harry looked at Neville:

"You have a plan in mind?"

"I do, for Friday night. That way we can have some information for the Order meeting the next day."

"Do you want to do this in conjunction with a Percy move? Or before a Percy move?"

"Before, I agree with Fleur that the rest of us need some practice. It's been over a year and I don't want to try anything remotely rash without some guinea pig testing first. Are we all agreed?"

Head nodding all around, as the Executive Board of The Order agreed. Neville outlined his plan, a rather textbook ambush style that they had been learning about in class. He was counting on that Malfoy retainer not being Auror trained and being somewhat complacent after two months of Harry not doing much of anything out of the ordinary on his afternoons and evenings out. The shadow was certainly now very familiar with all of the bookstores and grocers in the area, that's for sure.

Bill had a question for Harry:

"How are you losing the tails to get to your driving lessons?"

"There's a floo station about half a block away, so I floo from Hogwarts to there, and then Disillusion myself the rest of the way." He had had three lessons so far, only the last of which involved even getting in the automobile.

"And they're not there with you?"

"We get a loo break in the middle, and I always do a scan when I'm in a stall, no other magical people within 100 meters." Which didn't say anything for sure, but it was a good sign.

"I can't wait until you park a car outside here and they get a look at it. That will be a lot of fun." They all laughed.

Soon enough Bill and Fleur took off, and it was just the three of them……..which didn't last long as Neville excused himself too, sensing that Harry and Hermione needed some private time.

Hermione thought the same thing, she had been waiting for them all to leave.

"Are you tired at all? It was a pretty stressful day for you." It was now about 10:00 pm.

"Not really, I'm actually kind of wired from not having practice this morning. I don't know, you have something in mind?" He wasn't really thinking of anything in particular, let alone what she next said:

"I was thinking that perhaps I should stay here tonight."

Harry's drink was halfway to his mouth before it stopped very suddenly.

"By here you mean………"

"I don't think you should be alone tonight, not after what happened today."

"I'm not alone, Neville's one floor down, and his Listeners are still up." And for once Harry was happy about that, as he too was kind of worried about what sleep he would get after this kind of day.

"Well I would be closer than that."

Harry's bedroom was the only room with a bed on that particular floor. He knew that, but wasn't sure that Hermione did.

"You want to stay with me, like in my room?" He was now blushing a little bit, and she started getting a little red too.

"I'm not saying that we should have sex, but I want to be there for you."

The two of them had not engaged in those sort of relations as of yet, though they had tacitly agreed that it was only a matter of time before that changed. Harry's certainly didn't want this to be the reason for his deflowering though.

"Well of course you're welcome to stay anytime you like." He hoped he didn't sound too uncomfortable when he said that, after all they had slept in the same tent for months a couple of years ago.

"Well I will then, let go back to my room and pack a bag." She got up before he could reply and was through the floo in a matter of seconds, leaving Harry a little nonplussed.

She was back in a few minutes, and they headed upstairs, hand in hand.

End Chapter


	15. Offense Versus Defense

Flashback to Friday, November 13, 1998

2:15 am

Eighth Year Boy's Dorm, Hogwarts

It was the culmination of a week of no sleep for Harry, though at Ginny's insistence he at least stayed in bed for a few hours, giving it a shot. Even on nights when he knew it wasn't going to happen, he still was able to tell her that he tried. He often wondered how he managed to even walk to class, let alone perform competently, but he was doing acceptably in his work. Harry looked over at his watch and saw the time, only another hour or so to go and he could get up. He enjoyed wandering the castle at night, Marauder's Map in his hand, he could now brag to George that he knew the castle better than he did..

But lo and behold, he felt himself falling asleep, maybe the new potion Pomfrey had tried was going to work. He rolled to his left and let the sleep take him……..

Harry found himself wandering through a small town, one that he knew he had been to before. It wasn't until he got to the gravesite that he realized that he was in Godric's Hollow. Walking over to his parents' graves, he kept looking around for someone, anyone. But the place seemed to be deserted, even though it was broad daylight.

"What the hell is going on here? How'd I get here of all places." Harry hadn't been back to this place since his time with Hermione, if only he had listened to her.

"Yes Potter, you should have listened to your mudblood little friend."

Harry whipped around, his wand already in his hand, at least he could count on that. The voice belonged to a hooded man coming from his left.

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think Potter? I'm your past, and your future."

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Well then, you haven't lost your memory along with your ability to sleep, I'm so very proud of you."

"How do you know about that?" It was not common knowledge outside of Gryffindor, most people thought that Harry was still not recovered from the stress of The Battle of Hogwarts.

"I know everything about you Harry, you don't really think that you and I are finished do you?" More hooded figures appeared as he said this, and Harry was now outnumbered four to one.

"I took you people down before, I can do it again."

Lucius merely laughed.

"You'll go insane before we even try."

Harry could all too readily believe that, but he had to deny it all the same.

"I will not, I won before, I'll do it again!"

"Not this time Potter, but don't worry, when you get to the afterlife, all of your friends and loved ones will be waiting for you."

"Not if I kill you first Lucius."

"There are four of us Potter, you might get lucky with one, but you can't take us all."

"Don't count on it."

"Then fire Potter, use your wand, you know you want to." Lucius at his oily best.

"I'll kill you!"

"Not before we take Weasley and Granger, but of course they must be tortured first."

"You'll never lay a finger on them!"

"We already have, remember? My Master possessed your little woman, and we had such fun with the mudblood. You're thinking of them right now, aren't you? Like you'll never see them again?"

"Get out of my head!! I'll kill every single one of you!"

Lucius, who did not have his wand raised, walked over to Harry, and reached over to him.

"Calm down, you should be calm before we torture your friends. You'll enjoy the spectacle better that way. But let's give you a taste of what's to come first." He put his hand on Harry's shoulder, while another of the hooded figures raised his wand.

"Cru……." He got the first three letters out before Harry's wand tracked on him.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The shot missed, and Harry almost dropped his wand in disbelief as Lucius and his minions all took aim at him…….and what was that sound? It was like a wall had exploded. He took aim at another:

"Avada Kedavra!"

And he missed again……and what the hell was that sound?!

It was the sound of his dorm room wall being blasted into bits. The first shot had missed Neville by about five inches, the second missed Ron by even less.

"Harry! Stop it!" That was Neville, who in four months of watching Harry's nightmares, had never seen him go for his wand before…..and the wand had flown right into his hand.

"You're dead Lucius! I'll never let you touch them!" Without realizing it, he was standing on his bed, even though he was still convinced that it was the hard ground of his parents' cemetery.

He let fly with a pair of Reducto curses that the first of which destroyed Dean's entire bed, the second blowing out the window nearest Ron. The foulest language most of them had ever heard was flying out of his mouth, all because he was missing his targets. Ron of all people had never seen such a look of hatred on his best mate's face as he took aim at them.

The four of them didn't know whether to crap or go blind, only Neville and Ron even had their wands within easy range. Neville had ceased yelling at Harry to stop, thinking it was just egging him on to keep going. Ron, not knowing what else to do, was the first of the roommates to use his wand on Harry:

"Stupefy!"

Which, as it turned out, just bounced off Harry as if The Boy Who Lived was a dragon or something, so charged up with magical energy was he. Fortunately for Ron, Harry didn't notice the spell hitting him and seemed content with leveling the room around him with constant Reductos. Neville was somewhat more powerful than Ron, magically, but he doubted that he could make that much more difference, so he shouted over to Ron and Dean, who were both much bigger than Harry:

"Tackle him!"

Dean was a fan of real, not American, football, but he knew the basics of it and slammed into Harry's torso, while Seamus got his legs. Ron managed to get Harry's wand as he struggled against his 'attackers', screaming:

"You can't have them! I won't let you!"

Neville knew this it was only a matter of seconds before Harry completely lost it, which would likely kill everyone in the room, so he quickly got next to Harry's head, which was thrashing about.

"Harry you have to wake up, it's Neville and Ron, and Dean and Seamus. We're not Death Eaters, we're your roommates and friends. Harry, you have to wake up."

Ron had now joined the tackling party, trying to hold his friend's head long enough for Neville's message to sink through as he kept repeating over and over:

"Harry, wake up."

WHAM!

A surge flew through Harry, throwing Ron, Seamus, and Dean off of him, but causing Harry himself to fall off the bed too, cracking his head on the nightstand.

And that would be the thing that woke up him up.

He lay there, slumped against the nightstand, bleeding profusely from his head wound, while the rest of him poured sweat from his exertions. He looked around the room and saw the damage that he had done.

"Oh my God, what did I do? Ron? Neville?" There was a rising sound of panic in his voice as his roommates were almost too out of breath to answer him immediately.

Neville managed first:

"Dean, go get Keenan, Seamus, find McGonagall, get them up here." The room was soundproofed as a result of earlier Harry episodes, so it was unlikely that anyone had heard the commotion.

Ron stood up:

"No guys, don't go anywhere. We need to keep this between us for now."

Harry was still confused, and still panicky.

"What happened! What did I do!?"

Ron knelt by him, using a piece of his nightshirt to wipe away the blood from Harry's forehead.

"Harry mate, where were you just now?"

"I was in a cemetery, in Godric's Hollow………… I could feel myself falling asleep, I should have known it wasn't real."

"And Lucius was attacking you?" None of the other three had ever seen Ron this gentle with anyone not named Hermione.

"No, I had to get him first, before he came after you guys." Harry was crying now, and Neville came over too. He too wiped away some blood, and again turned to Dean and Seamus.

"Change of plan, this stays between us for now. Harry, we need you to call for Kreacher, he can repair all of this for us without much effort." Neville wanted no part of any of them using their wands where Harry could see them, there was no telling what else might set him off in the state he was in.

"Okay, give me a second to catch my breath."

They all needed that, and Harry counted to ten in his head, and then:

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

The little elf cracked in, not bothering to look around.

"Ah the young Master, what does he want?"

"I need you to repair the damage done to this room, and to ask no questions."

Kreacher wanted as little conversation as possible anyway, so this posed no difficulty for him. A few finger snaps later, and the room was back to normal, even the dust from all the destruction was gone. He looked at Harry with a vague expression that Harry took for being expecting further orders.

"You are to speak of this to no one, under pain of death. Tell me that you understand."

"Of course Kreacher understands, he does not question orders." Said with some incredulity that Harry or anyone would think otherwise.

Harry was not in the mood for a semantic debate, so he just nodded.

"Thank you Kreacher, you may go."

CRACK!

And it was just the five of them again. Neville took over:

"Okay, we need to agree that this does not leave this room, or the five of us. If it gets out that Harry had a breakdown……..well a lot that we gained by winning the war will be lost. Harry, I know this is going to be hard for you, but you have to try harder to keep these dreams from becoming too real."

"I'll do whatever you guys need me to do, I'm so sorry."

"Apology accepted. Dean, are you with us?"

Dean was the key, there was still some residual Ginny jealousy, but he didn't hesitate.

"What's said in this room, stays here." He looked at his best mate.

"Same for me Harry. I can't imagine the strain you're under, and I don't want to, but I'm with you, all the way."

Ron agreed too, and since it was Neville's idea, he felt no need to chime in with a little speech. Harry did have one thing more to say:

"Guys, thank you. Thank you for being there for me, for forgiving what just happened. Thanks for keeping it in here……..but if it happens again, this deal is null and void, and you're going to put me on the next floo to St. Mungo's. Agreed?"

Nods all around, and each of the other four had been thinking roughly along those lines anyway……….but it did make them feel better about the deal that Harry was with them there too.

Harry's head injuries were explained away as a simple slip, and enough details were told to Hermione, Luna, and Ginny as to not raise too many questions. But after that night, at least one of the four of them was awake for every minute that Harry was in bed.

Back to present:

Tuesday, September 2, 1999

4:30 am

Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Hermione was thinking about all of this as she lay entwined with Harry. He was out like the proverbial light, having taken a double dose of his prescription sleeping pills. Ironically it was Hermione who couldn't sleep, she would have been tossing and turning all night if she wasn't afraid of letting go of Harry. Part of it, she knew, was the unfamiliarity of spending the night with someone. That had taken a little getting used to, and there were a few times that she wished she had taken one of Harry's pills. Another part, perhaps even the larger one, was that the first real day of her job was beginning bright and early at 9:00 am, with the Third Year Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Her first day teaching, and the excitement and nervousness was coursing through her. But eventually she just tuned herself to his breathing, and fell into a few fitful periods of slumber.

This was new for her, only the period on the road in that tent had she had anything remotely resembling Harry's sleep issues. It was kind of tempting to get up and wander around, but she was afraid if she did that she would miss the explosion that she almost knew was coming any minute now.

But it never came, he was too drugged up.

Eventually Hermione dozed off, and was only awoken by the alarm ringing at 6:00 am. It was a regular muggle windup alarm clock that Harry had magically enhanced to sound like a nuclear reactor going critical, so as to burn through his pill induced sleeping. And it did this time too.

Though not before almost giving Hermione a heart attack, she thought he had just been exaggerating all that as she shot out of bed like a cannon.

Nope, not exaggerating.

Harry woke up as if it was perfectly normal, and flicked his hand over to the clock with his eyes still closed, shutting it off.

"Oh my God."

"Hey, I told you it was loud didn't I." Said in yawn-ese, but it was intelligible enough to get his point across.

"How did you sleep?"

"Fine, I was out like a light. Having a new blanket helped." He gave her his best sleepy grin.

"You were a pretty great pillow yourself." She lied smoothly, but not maliciously.

"Next time I'll turn down the alarm."

"When do you want that to be?" She said this a bit hesitantly, even though she was aware that Harry had barely known she was there once the pills kicked in.

Harry finally got out of bed, let loose a huge yawn that had the benefit of giving him time to think, and said:

"How about every night that one of us isn't really sick?" He thought that that was the perfect answer, and was rewarded by a giggle.

"Let's start with tonight and one sleeping pill."

"Done."

They shook on it, morning breath, and since there were three bathrooms in the house, there was no need for anyone to wait. Hermione was way too nervous to eat breakfast, so she left first. But not before:

"Are you sure you're okay about yesterday?"

"I had my nutty, and I'm done with it. Until the next one happens, then we'll see." Or until one pill happened, which she was thinking too, but neither of them said anything.

The Daily Prophet's issue was all about the various attacks, full of the sensationalist coverage that most people had come to expect from their paper of record. Harry was treated surprisingly gently, if the perpetrators behind the train assault were hoping that the DP would make him look crazy, they were disappointed. The stories were full of quotes from DMLE Head Amos Diggory, whose primary function in the government was to stay out of Kingsley's way, but in between Gawain Robards and the still skeptical about him magical media.

Amos had let go of his residual Harry issues a couple of years ago, and he praised Harry up and down, while also pointing out that five Slytherin students had been in the thick of the fighting as well. He said that it spoke well for a new society, which integrated pureblood and muggleborns alike, and everyone in between.

At the appointed 4:00 pm hour, Harry deposited himself in Kingsley's office, exhausted after a five hour practice, an hour of paperwork at Hogwarts, and a couple of hours of chasing Teddy around .

"I thought your sleeping issues had been resolved?" This was Kingsley, seeing how tired his young friend looked.

Harry explained the real reasons, and the older man chuckled.

"So much for filling the hours. Now first, do you have any questions for me?"

"What's the word on The True Voice?"

"Coming out Friday, just in time for the weekend. Our informants tell us that it was already planned for that day, so either they knew about the attacks or are just very lucky."

"Which do you think it is?"

"I think what you're wanting to ask is if the Malfoys are behind the attacks."

"I was getting there, yeah."

"On the record, we have found no official links between any of our prisoners and Lucius Malfoy or any of his known associates."

"And off the record?"

"Of course they're behind it, they're the only ones with enough money and moxie to pull it off. We haven't gotten the files on most of the attackers yet, but our Irish friends are all on their government's most wanted list. Very expensive mercenaries they are."

"And they really don't know anything? That stuff last night wasn't misdirection for the faculty?"

"If only it were that easy, but no, they don't know anything. They were hired via owl post and given instructions by a man clearly under Disguising Charms of some sort. Their instructions were to keep you guys occupied and nothing else, no Killing Curses were to be fired. Now I interviewed the two who speak German, and they said pretty much the same thing. We can hope that the others will have had different directives, but I doubt that will happen."

"What's going to happen to them?"

"The 11? We're going to stick them in a hole for a long, long time. At the very least they're looking at attempted kidnapping, and there are a few other charges we can make stick too. If nothing else we got some nasty people off the streets, even if they weren't our streets, and some Dementors too."

He outlined the trial process for Harry, who all the while was wondering what was the truth and what wasn't. He didn't let these feelings show though, and to Harry's credit Kingsley didn't seem to pick up on it. The larger man then had a query for Harry:

"So what are you folks planning now?"

"Nothing in particular, though we will be reading The True Voice very carefully. As far as I'm concerned they failed in what they attempted to do, I didn't kill anyone. Even The Daily Prophet was complimentary to me today, and that's a miracle. So I don't see the need to do anything right now." 'Right now' had such a vague definition after all.

"No plans to go after the Malfoys directly?"

"Does our deal still hold? As long as no muggles see, I can do what I want?"

"Provided that I get full details, and I mean full. If one of them dies or is found dead somehow, you might have to undergo a private chat with Veritaserum, just to make sure you're being aboveboard." He made this up on the spur of the moment, just to see what Harry would say.

"You could never make that stick publicly."

"But you'll do it because you want my help for the future. I'm the next Minister of Magic Harry, you'll want to be my friend." Said with just the slightest hint of threat, as Kingsley was liking this idea more and more as the seconds passed.

But Harry was equal to the task:

"But you and your boss are scared shitless that one day soon I'm going to use my fame and power to try to deny you all that. Besides, I think 'Minister of Magic Bill Weasley' sounds just wonderful, don't you?" He loved the Bill idea, but had no interest in using his fame to get it………yet.

"So you don't have to go through the hassle of doing the job yourself?"

"So I don't have to keep jumping through hoops every time I come into this office."

"You would rather I hand everything over to you on a silver platter."

"I would rather that you and Robards remember who killed Voldemort and who didn't. I've proven that I can be counted on when it's needed most. Your boss can't say the same, though I agree that you can."

Kingsley always found himself taken aback slightly when a hostile Harry, which was a lot lately, paid him a compliment in the midst of the hostility, and today was no different.

"Well…..thank you."

"You're welcome of course, I don't forget my friends Kingsley, and you're one of them." He actually meant this, however odd it might sound to an unbiased observer.

"I wonder what Dumbledore would say if he could hear our conversations?"

"He would chide me for losing my patience, while remonstrating with you on……well, on something unrelated to the conversation but designed to make me feel better."

Kingsley burst out laughing, and was soon joined by Harry, who decided to keep the general good feeling of the moment going.

"Tell you what, get me a detailed floor plan of Malfoy Manor, as well as it's general location, and I'll shake right now on the Veritaserum."

"Done, I'll have a dossier ready for you by the end of the week." They shook on it.

"Excellent. Now if you don't mind, I've got an appointment tonight and it wouldn't do to be late."

"More wine tasting? Don't turn into a lush on us now." Harry's Ministry shadow had given such a detailed description of the class that Kingsley himself was tempted to find one to join.

"No, nothing like that. It doesn't involve leaving the house, don't worry."

Which Kingsley took to mean 'Hermione', though in actuality it was Harry's driving lesson. He was due to take the wheel for a London drive, 30 minutes, and he had been looking forward to it all week.

"Have fun anyway. How about you be back here Friday for lunch after practice, and we'll talk about The True Voice."

"Sounds great, see you then." Another handshake, and Harry was through the floo back to Hogwarts.

Harry's perfect record of not killing anyone this week continued through his driving lesson, as he negotiated his generic Toyota around the streets of London without hitting anything, he even parked it without touching the curb. His instructor, still rather mystified that a prosperous looking 19 year old approached driving like he had never EVER been behind the wheel, nevertheless gave Harry full marks and said that he was progressing nicely. Nobody was tailing him either, and that gave him a big smile whenever he thought of it.

That night in Grimmauld Place was a one pill night, as Hermione got even less sleep than before because Harry was prone to tossing and turning when not fully drugged up. Still, it got better as the night went on, particularly after Hermione just flat out nearly squeezed the life out of him in exasperation. That got him to settle down, and he promised to do better the next night.

The next three days were Quidditch practice, more Quidditch practice, and more wine and driving lessons for Harry, as nothing cataclysmic went on in his life. Hermione got more sleep each time, which made her happy, and she was also taking quite easily to teaching as well.

"Well it helps that they're not using their wands. I'm dreading teaching a subject where thirty 11 year olds are waving their wands about." It was her not too secret ambition to some day take over the Transfiguration post at Hogwarts, which was her favorite wand subject. It might come more quickly than she thought, as Milo Sonnanstine did not have a way with the students, though McG had chalked it up to inexperience during his first year.

Still, Hermione was happy, which made Harry happy.

Friday, September 5, 1999

Afternoon

Various points in Magical Britain

Everyone who cared about such things knew that an issue of The True Voice was coming before too long, the first copy had gotten far too much attention. What was unclear was the approximate number who cared, but most people were still at least vaguely interested. Kingsley's inside information, which Harry had promptly shared with the rest of The Order, had been spot on, and bundles of the paper were left at certain strategic locations. Harry, as expected, was the star:

BOY WHO LIVED IN THICK OF TRAIN DRAMA!

The article that followed, the entirety of which took up over a third of the issue, gave a blow by blow account of what actually happened. It was similar in many respects to the nightmare incident in the last issue, as they clearly had access to someone who was there for the entire episode. A shot by shot list was made of all the spells and curses fired by Harry, Soren Bender, Giles Keenan, Dennis Creevey, and Natalie McDonald. Noticeably absent were shot sheets for Connor Greengrass and his four Slytherin friends, their participation was the one mega-detail left out.

Once the 'facts' were laid out, the author of the piece, still unsigned, went into editorializing mode. They raised an interesting, and thus far unexplored even by The Daily Prophet in years past, point about Harry's ability to drive off Dementors. It was mentioned, and heavily dwelt on, that he had been able to do this since age 13, which was certainly quite unnatural wasn't it? What form of control did The Boy Who Lived have over these powerful creatures? Was there more to this than meets the eye? Once again there was a call for a psychiatric evaluation of Harry at the very least.

The attack on Diagon Alley was the focus of the second and third articles, with Gawain Robards, Amos Diggory, and Kingsley Shacklebolt getting each a roasting, with the viciousness level going from worst to least in that order. How the Dementors were allowed to penetrate the Alley was brought up numerous times, and what were to become of the ones that had been captured? Could Robards, a proven coward, be trusted to destroy them and not unleash them on their political enemies. Their enemies for sure included the publishers of The True Voice, or so the third article maintained, hence the anonymity of everyone involved.

The last of the four piece newsletter was about the attacks on the muggleborns, and it was sadly agreed by the author that those unfortunate people had brought their troubles on themselves. A quote from the piece:

"While we, of course, do not condone violence of any sort, our muggleborn friends must have realized by now that they are not welcome in Magical Great Britain. Their continued presence is little better than a drain on our resources and a blight on our way of life."

All in all it was a more subdued version of the newsletter, but with fewer factual mistakes. In fact Hermione, reading it during lunchtime at Hogwarts, only found two in the entire thing. There were in actuality four, but the other two were details to things that she was not privy to. One of the drops for the bundles of The True Voice was NOT Hogwarts, but all it took were some copies coming by owl post, and a few Duplicating Charms, and the entire student body was reading it.

McGonagall wanted nothing more than to talk to Hermione about the Harry part of it, but the younger woman did not sit next to her during meals typically, and there was no way McG was going to sidle up to her with this kind of audience. After the meal was a different story however, and the two walked toward the History of Magic classroom together, Hermione had the Seventh Years upcoming:

"Where is Harry? I expected you two to be joined at the hip after the newsletter came out."

"He's having lunch with Kingsley right now, or that was the plan."

"They hit Kingsley and The Minister quite hard, perhaps this will allow us to grow closer as allies." McGonagall was still a bit uneasy about a Harry/Bill led Order, and thought that Kingsley in particular might be able to provide some needed oversight.

"I hope so, though I wonder if Harry will hit him with Percy, see if this rapprochement is the real thing."

"What did you advise him to do?"

Her answer surprised McG:

"I tend to stay out of those decisions for the most part, though I think he listens to Bill."

"Why stay out of it? If Harry will listen to anyone it would be you."

In reality Hermione was so determined not to 'run' her and Harry that she had stopped offering him advice on much of anything, unsolicited advice anyway. Perversely of course, Harry now asked her for more advice than ever about daily things……just not about Kingsley. She didn't want to tell any of that to McG though.

"I think Harry needs to speak with his own voice when he deals with Kingsley, for the good and the bad. Like it or not, Kingsley had forced Harry to be our representative to The Ministry, or at least Auror Command, and we have to see how that works out."

McGonagall didn't seem to like that answer much, but before she could offer a rebuttal, they were at Hermione's door, with students already inside.

"Will he be here for dinner?"

"I believe so, but I won't know for sure until later on."

Meanwhile, at Kingsley's office, the Head Auror handed over a full schematic to Malfoy Manor, along with it's exact location. Harry had been there before of course, but given various ways of hiding the place, he didn't want to have to rely in his memory to get there again. Kingsley confirmed that the files on the other foreign mercenaries revealed them all to be wanted men in their own countries, in a few cases with substantial rewards posted for their return.

"Which means that we'll return them, we're facing something of a budget crunch in the DMLE, what with having to form our own Auror training center, and we could use the cash."

"Will these governments do right by the situation?" Harry had little to no knowledge of any magical governments beyond France, which Fleur occasionally mentioned.

"They want these people incarcerated as much as we do, and some of them don't have our qualms about violating civil liberties."

Their time was up, and Harry was still torn about bringing up Percy, and about bringing up the night's activities to come. He really, really wanted to believe that Kingsley was on the level, that he had everyone's best interests at heart.

But in the end he just couldn't get there, and left with nothing more than some pleasantries, and a good luck from Kingsley for the coming debacle against the Tornadoes.

"Let me guess, you're a fan of them." They were the second most popular team in the league, the Harpies being the most popular, for obvious reasons.

"Season tickets for the last nine years, but I'll root for you to get the Snitch."

"You're all heart." Harry heard this a lot, but was still smiling.

He took the floo back to Hogwarts, where he immediately flooed over to Gringotts and walked up to Bill's office. Bill was doing still more paperwork, he was very wistful now for his curse breaking days back in Egypt. He looked up as Harry came through the door:

"Did he deliver?"

"Seems like it. I haven't looked it over yet, I came straight here and it would have been kind of rude to page through it right in front of him." He handed it over, and Bill himself started paging through it.

"This is pretty detailed, they must have somebody who's been inside more than a few times."

"I didn't ask, I just assumed that he wouldn't tell me either way."

"Or tell you the opposite, yeah." He gave the folder back to Harry, who looked it over.

"From what little I saw last year, this does seem to fit."

"Make your plans accordingly, then I'll see what Ron comes up with, and we can combine them."

"You want me to get a copy of this to him?"

"If you don't mind, I still have a lot to do here before our little operation tonight."

"You ready for that?"

"I'm prepared, let's put it that way." He hadn't raised his wand in anger since the final battle, but then again neither had any of The Order save Harry……nightmare night for Ron had been more in self defense.

"Gotcha, see you at WWW at 6:00."

He was about to leave when Bill stopped him.

"So what did you think of the newsletter? I'm surprised you didn't mention it right away."

"What's there to say? They used some facts to draw totally outlandish conclusions, nothing more. I thought it was kind of a weak effort personally."

"What did Kingsley say about the stuff about him?"

"He laughed about it, he takes it even less seriously than I did. I got the feeling that Robards does too."

"Did you tell him about the Hogwarts people joining us, like you promised?" Robards he meant.

"I sent him an owl about it, no response directly, but Kingsley said that he got it."

"How do you like all the fencing you're doing with Kingsley?"

"It's preparing me for my future career of being your Senior Undersecretary, Mr. Minister."

The look on Bill's face was priceless as Harry started cackling. He just made it through the floo before the Rictusempra hit him, it was a good thing that Bill's wand wasn't within easy reach. Harry hid out at Hogwarts for a little while, before make his trip to WWW.

Fast forward to 6:00 pm

WWW

The plan was a simple ambush, the only flaw was potential overacting by the six people involved: Harry, Ron, George, Fleur, Neville, and Bill. The last two of them were to be the watchers of the watchers, Disillusioned.

The first four left the shop on the stroke of 6:00, walking casually toward the gateway, talking about their evening plans out in muggle London. They weren't talking too loudly, but they weren't making any effort to be quiet either. On the surface it just looked like four friends out on the town. They even mentioned Bill and Neville, hoping that they met them at the 'restaurant', careful not to give it a name. They meandered through Diagon Alley, through the gateway, and into muggle-dom, where they started off toward an Italian restaurant that Harry and Neville had been wanting to try, but had been saving for some other time. Their usual pub was in the opposite direction of where they were headed, both of their followers wouldn't be able to Apparate ahead, they would have to follow.

"We really couldn't have Apparated over there? This is a long walk." Ron, not feeling that he was a very good actor, had made very little contribution to the dialogue so far, but he was good at complaining, so he said this.

"You know how much of a pain it is to Apparate someplace you've never been Ron, besides, what if a muggle sees?"

"Oh shut it Harry, just because you're in good shape doesn't mean the rest of us are." Ron did need to drop a few kilos as it happened, but he was still just performing.

"Excuse me Ronald, I do not believe my figure needs any attention does it not?" Fleur flashed that smile at him.

"Err……well of course not Fleur, I was just talking about George and me."

"Of course you were dear." More Fleur sarcasm, but she patted him on the arm anyway.

"Poor Ronniekins, don't worry, I know a shortcut, we'll shave at least a minute off your walk." George was grinning from ear to hole as he said this, and Ron gave him a smack on the arm. It was such a smooth way of doing it that Bill and Neville, neither of whom could see each other or be seen, were both grinning.

They headed down a side street, still giving no clue as to their eventual destination. It was still rather light out, and ideally this would have been done in the dark, but Bill had vetoed this as pushing their luck. Better to be able to see what they were doing at all times, and to see just how many muggles were in the way.

Bill and Neville were about 10 and 15 meters behind the other four, respectively. They were continually scanning for any 'guests' besides the woman from The Ministry and the man from the Malfoys, who had been following the four since the moment they left WWW. They were less than 4 meters behind the four of them, and as usual, knew all about each other. But both had orders not to engage unless fired upon first.

The side street was long and somewhat narrow, no sidewalks next to the buildings. The four of them got about 200 meters down it, when all of the sudden a voice cried out:

"Celtic forever!"

Not a shout one is likely to hear by chance on a London side street, given that Celtic is based in Scotland, and that was by design, since it was Neville yelling it. It was the signal that it was just the eight of them, magically, on the street.

Ron pretended to look annoyed.

"Who the bloody hell is Celtic? One of those muggle footy teams?"

Harry stopped, as per the plan, being the only person there conversant in muggle football.

"Now Ron, please don't say that in front of muggles, nothing makes you stand out more in one of these places than not knowing about football, especially being our age and all."

This began a brief, standing still, argument about the merits of muggle football and why Ron thought it was a waste of time, money, and humanity. Harry gleefully argued the other side, he rather liked football even if he had never been any good at it as a young child.

All of this had the effect of making Anson Parkinson of Malfoy Enterprises and Malia Fenster of The Ministry get somewhat complacent, as they settled in to listen to the argument. Bill and Neville had agreed that Bill would take the Malfoy retainer, Neville the one from The Ministry, and they crept up slowly on their prey…….until they where half a meter away.

They undid the Disillusion spells on themselves and quickly shot out:

"Finite Incantatem!" "Finite Incantatem!"

They were so close that they couldn't possibly miss, and didn't, revealing the two followers.

Harry and Fleur were equal to the task, as she had slipped her wand out unnoticed, while Harry already had his out, theatrically waving it in Ron's direction during their argument. They fired:

"Stupefy!" "Stupefy!"

Petrficus Totalus would have been better for their purposes, but a really powerful Wizard or Witch could Apparate despite being frozen. During the debate about the plan it was highly doubted that anyone that powerful would be delegated to watcher duty, but it was better not to take chances.

The one real miracle though, was that no muggles appeared to see any of this, as Bill and Neville ran up to the bodies.

"Nice shots you two. Ron, you have the portkey?"

"Right here." Ron took out a length of rope, the preferred material for black market portkeys. He wrapped it around the wrists of Parkinson and Fenster and took hold of one end, George grabbing the other.

"Activate!"

And poof, they were gone. The other four Apparated back to the living area inside WWW, whereupon Harry got on the floo.

"Professor Granger!" He still found that to sound odd, calling her that.

She was quickly there, she had been waiting.

"Harry?"

"Come over, it worked."

He backed up and was soon joined by her and Luna, who had been waiting with her. This was it, no other Hogwarts faculty or other Weasleys would be involved for the time being.

The prisoners were separated at first, Ministry Auror Fenster was kept in place, while Parkinson was brought to the basement by Ron and George. Bill got his supply of Veritaserum ready, this particular part of it had to go quickly.

"Enervate."

Fenster woke up, and Bill quickly forced the three drops into her mouth before she could figure out the situation. She was already wrapped up tightly, with Fleur having put up anti-Apparition wards all over the shop, them being already in place in the living quarters.

Harry placed himself in front of Fenster.

"Hi there."

"Potter, what the hell have you done?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted answers from our Malfoy tail……..but I don't want you blabbing to Kingsley about what I did. You are not going to be harmed in any way Malia, even your pride won't be hurt since you'll be Obliviated after we're done. Bill's going to ask you some questions, answer them like you have no choice to, and in about 30 minutes you'll be put back where we found you."

Fenster's only hope was that the Veritaserum was shoddy, but she doubted that people with Potter's kind of connections would get bad stuff.

"Fine, do it."

Bill queried her for a few minutes and established that Fenster was so low on the totem pole in Auror Command that she knew very little about anything. She was supposed to check in only when Harry seemed like he was about to do something outrageous, or when he packed it in for the night, there was no 'on the hour' schedule or anything like that. They did learn that the four watchers of Harry were all, to varying degrees, on Kingsley's shit list, hence their assignments. It was a last resort kind of thing, screw this up and you're gone. Fenster's sin had been habitual tardiness, nothing too outrageous, but it didn't take much in this day and age in Auror Command. One of the others had been brought up on sexual harassment charges, and was the tiniest of slips from a pink slip.

It was all done in less than 10 minutes, less than Harry said because she didn't know very much to tell them. Bill performed the Obliviation, and then re-Stunned her. They assumed that they had about 90 minutes tops before anyone was missed, so all of them hurried down to the basement, where George and Ron were babysitting Parkinson. He was woken up, and Harry again got down in front of him.

"Well then, let's talk about you now."

Parkinson tried to spit in Harry's face, but our boy was ready for something like that and jerked his head aside, the spittle landing on the floor behind him. Harry just smiled faintly at Parkinson.

"That was a very silly thing to do Parkinson, and it will have repercussions."

End Chapter


	16. The Burning

Friday, September 5, 1999, continued

WWW

6:50 pm

Harry got down in front of him.

"Well then, let's talk about you now."

Parkinson tried to spit in Harry's face, but our boy was ready for something like that and jerked his head aside, the spittle landing on the floor behind him. Harry just smiled faintly at Parkinson.

"That was a very silly thing to do Parkinson, and it will have repercussions."

"Go to hell Potter."

"Rictusempra."

Done without his wand, Harry had just laid his hand on Parkinson's shoulder. He wasn't that proficient at doing magic wandlessly, he wasn't so patient that he could practice it enough, but he could do a lot of small things.

Parkinson was twitching all over now, very reminiscent of Ginny when he had done it to her. Harry stopped it after about half a minute.

"Your old boss tried to send me there mate, didn't work. Now are you going to behave yourself?"

Parkinson's reply told Harry what he could do with his mother, very graphically.

"Just like your little sister I see." He was smiling in a mocking way, trying somewhat hard to do it like he thought Lucius might, so as to unsettle his foe.

Bill then took over, he and Harry had discussed doing a good cop/bad cop kind of interrogation, and this seemed like the proper time. He walked over, grabbed Parkinson by the hair and screamed at him.

"Where the devil do you think you are!? Eh!?"

His prisoner didn't know what to make of this, so he just kept quiet.

"We don't need your cooperation you piece of filth, but some of us need some cursing practice, so every insult you throw at us will be paid back tenfold! Tell me that you understand." The others had never heard Bill sound so cold and merciless, and Ron even took a step backward, not realizing that it was mostly an act.

Anson Parkinson nodded, quickly deciding that he wasn't being paid enough to be tortured on behalf of Lucius Malfoy and his sneaky little spawn.

Bill kept hold of his hair as Neville put the Veritaserum in Parkinson's mouth. They let it take effect before Bill, and only Bill, started his questions. After establishing his name and all those particulars, the nitty gritty started:

"How many of you are following Harry around?"

"Just my sister and me, we alternate days."

"Your sister being Pansy." Bill had heard all about her from Ron during his little brother's exile.

"Yes."

"How often do you report in?"

"Only at the end of the night."

"Do you have any instructions to kill Harry or anyone else?"

"No, we have been specifically ordered not to."

Everyone in the room not named Parkinson breathed a sigh of relief in some way.

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I'm not paid to ask those questions."

"Have you wanted to kill Harry while you were following him?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was told that my entire family would be killed if I even tried."

Bill was rocked for a second, but then wondered why, it was pure Malfoy to do something like that. He then continued:

"Whom do you report to?"

"Lucius Malfoy and my father."

"Not Draco?"

"I see him, but I don't report to him." He smiled at that, he hated Draco for the way the little ferret had used his little sister over the years.

"How involved are you in The True Voice?"

"I'm not."

"Who is?"

Parkinson then reeled off a list of ten names, which included Draco and Lucius.

"There might be more, but that's all that I know about." The Veritaserum didn't make him say that, he offered it up hoping that Harry would decide not to experiment on him.

"How many people are in your organization?"

"I don't know, we never meet as one group."

"How many subgroups are there?"

"Two."

"Who leads your group?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Who leads the other group?"

"Yefremias Yaxley."

An infamous name among the 'former' Death Eaters.

"How many people are involved in your subgroup?"

"I've never counted heads, but I guess about 30."

That was more than they had hoped it would be, but less than they had feared.

"Is Percy Weasley involved in any of your activities."

"No." But his eyes went very wide at that question, though his denial didn't mean much in the grand scheme of Percy.

"You said 30 people were in your subgroup. Name them."

He did, and there were no surprises, no names that just shouted 'Him?!' 'Her!?' Hermione was writing down all of the names just in case, perhaps a deal could be cut with Kingsley.

"One masked attacker escaped from The Hogwarts Express after the assault, were you that person?"

"No."

"Who was?"

"Yaxley."

"You know that for a fact, or that's what you were told." Two different things possibly.

"He told me himself."

That still could be a drag of some sort, but it was less likely.

"What did he tell you about the attack?"

"He wanted to make sure no Slytherin kids got killed, so I got word to some sources within that House."

"Who are they?"

More names, four in all, all of them were familiar ones to the younger people in the room.

"What does the name Dean Thomas mean to you?"

"I've heard that he was our source for the story about your nightmare."

"Who from?"

"Draco Malfoy mentioned the name more than once, and my sister was ordered to tell them everything she knew about him."

"Did he cooperate voluntarily?"

"No."

"Imperious?"

"I heard that they got him drunk the first time, and used Veritaserum for the rest of it."

"Heard from who?"

"Draco Malfoy again."

"Not your sister? She didn't help with the questioning?"

"I asked her, she said that she wasn't there for it."

"When is your sister to follow Harry next?"

"Saturday."

There was more that he wanted to ask, but Bill took Harry aside and whispered to him a second, and seeing his friend nod, turned to the rest.

"All of you not named Fleur, if you would please leave the room for a few minutes. We're about to do something illegal and we don't want you to have direct knowledge of it. Thank you." That last part was said with a bit of command in his voice, and they all filed out, with facial expressions varying. As soon as they were gone, Bill locked the door, and then pointed his wand at Parkinson.

"Obliviate!"

He waved his wand and projected his thoughts about what he wanted to erase from the man's memory. He was successful in removing the ambush as well as the questioning, fortunately his prisoner did not have such a complex mind.

He took a few deep breaths, did Bill, and again pointed his wand at Anson Parkinson.

"Imperio."

He put as much force in his voice as he could without shouting, and was rewarded when Parkinson's eyes glazed over.

"When you are next in Malfoy Manor, you will place Listening Charms next to the floo fireplace, the kitchen, and the room where you are meeting. You will make them key worded for the words Harry Potter and Weasley. You are to avoid getting caught by anyone higher than you in your organization, anyone lower and you are to Obliviate them. You will monitor the Charms and give a written report to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes on each Friday evening that you are supposed to be following Harry Potter. He will be at the shop for the sake of appearances then, and when your name is called by any of the three of us, you will cancel any Concealment Charm or take off any Invisibility Cloak that you are using. Then you will truthfully answer whatever questions we ask of you, and not repeat any of our instructions to anyone unless one of us is present. Do you understand these instructions as I have given them you?"

This was a lot of information and instructions, but all of it was relatively benign, so their prisoner would not have trouble processing it. As he proved:

"Yes." Brief and to the point.

Bill waved his wand again, and Parkinson's eyes lost their glazed look.

"Stupefy." Done by Fleur, who after Harry's threat was wary of what her friend might do to Parkinson. She knew he wouldn't mess with an unconscious person, in theory. She looked over at her friend, who had his eyes closed.

"We are going straight to hell guys. We're using their own tactics against them."

Bill walked over and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I know Harry, but we tried it Dumbledore's way and it didn't work. We won that war only because the Prophecy proved to be true, we lost everywhere else. Can our side of the fence take another 'win' like that?"

Harry finally opened his eyes.

"I know, but I still don't like it."

"Nobody does, if war was pleasant there would be a lot more of them." Harry was not the only one who had read muggle history books.

"Thank God."

"Look, we didn't tell him to kill anyone did we?" Even Bill drew the line there.

"I know, and I'm not saying I'm not 100 with you, I am."

Fleur breathed a sigh of relief, and she too put her arm around Harry.

"We are all in this together, but this time will be different."

"Yeah, I'm not going to die for the cause." Harry finally smiled, which was all Bill was waiting for.

"No, you're not."

"Why cut off the questioning when you did?"

"We need the information from the Listening Charms, so that we know what questions to ask. Anything else I wanted to know would not have led to the complete picture.

"Good point, I'd not have thought of it like that."

Not for the first time, Bill was thankful that Harry had no ego to stroke here. He kissed his wife on the forehead and pointed at Parkinson.

"Come on, let's get this scum back to the street."

Fleur walked over to the door and called the others back in, while Bill made sure to Stupefy Parkinson again, just to make sure. The rest of the rump Order filed back in, all with varying expressions of curiosity on their faces. Bill addressed them.

"Parkinson here was not tortured in any way, that's all I'll say about what we did. Now we have to get him and our Auror friend back to where we found them. Ron, George, you take Fenster, Fleur and I will deal with Parkinson. The rest of you get to the restaurant and get us a table." Nods all around, and within 45 minutes they were dining out and doing a not half bad job of pretending that the 'interviews' had never happened.

For their parts, Fenster and Parkinson did not notice anything amiss, and thanks to Fleur, did not even notice where the missing minutes went. They duly reported to their bosses that nothing happened but a long dinner and some boring, to them, conversation. The boring part was not planted in their minds, though it was not a half bad idea, but were the result of a concerted effort to be boring. It wasn't hard for Ron, but the rest of them were acting a bit.

With good effect, a series of jobs well done.

The rump Order was glad that the real thing was not meeting the next day, the acting was getting a little tiring. The Hogwarts people, on the first weekend of the school year, just had too much to do. Even Harry was dragooned into patrolling the halls on his one day off from his real job, much to his mild irritation. But nothing happened of any note, the school was still a little on edge because of the train attack and the students were more in solidarity than at any time in recent memory.

Well one thing happened of note: Harry got out his old Invisibility Cloak and planted Listening Charms in the Seventh Year girls and Sixth Year boys dorm rooms in Slytherin, the names Parkinson had given them. He wasn't sure if anything would come of them, for all the Listeners they had operating they weren't getting ton of intelligence information, but he reasoned that it was much like throwing mud at a wall. Eventually some of it was going to stick, right?

The Sunday game against the Tornados was not the debacle that everyone connected to Puddlemere feared, but was instead a 190-180 loss by the barest of margins. The Tornados Keeper had allowed just three goals, but none after the first five minutes, and Harry was not criticized for his Snitch grab because it was clear that Katie and company would have needed a minor miracle to score the tying goal. Harry was four for four with the Snitch, and while he was not loving his job, he was liking it a great deal. Hermione sat through the 43 minute game without once cracking a book or using her knitting needles, a first for her. Upon hearing this, her beau was very proud.

Tuesday, September 9, 1999

4:00 pm

Hogwarts

"Hello Slytherins, welcome to your first flying lesson." Harry had purposely put these 10 kids first up, wanting his own teaching debut to be with the hardest nuts to crack. He was about to take roll, when first there was a question, by Trenton Nardulf:

"Um, what do we call you? Mr. Potter? Professor Potter?"

This elicited a laugh from most, and brought a smile to Harry.

"How about Harry when it's just us, and Mr. Potter if another faculty member is present. Deal?"

Nods all around, and Harry got into teacher mode again. After taking roll:

"Okay, the thing to remember about flying is that the broom will mostly do what you want it to, within it's design limits. That means the magic in the broom is very intuitive, the best brooms react instantly to what you're thinking and feeling. Even the brooms we have in front of us, which are not of the best quality, have some of that in them. But the downside to that is that they know if you're afraid. Now who here has never flown at all?"

No one raised their hands, which was to be expected, all of them being purebloods.

"Good, that will make this easier for all of us. Next question: Who among you feels that you're a good enough flyer that this first lesson is a waste of your time?" Attendance at this lesson was mandatory, even though none of them had complained beforehand.

One hand did go up, from Allen Menzel.

"You don't want to be here?"

"I already know how to fly, I've been doing it for years. I know you're a professional and all, but since this is a basic class, I doubt you'll be teaching anything I don't already know." What he didn't say was that his father had played five years with the Wasps and had taught his boy a trick or four.

What he did say was said politely, but firmly, and Harry had to admire it.

"Fair enough, you're free to go." Harry said it just as politely.

That elicited some gasps, and after a moment's hesitation, Menzel walked somewhat quickly back up to the main doors, and disappeared inside.

"Anyone else?"

No one took him up on it though, and the lesson proceeded normally. There was not a repeat of Harry's first flying lesson, being a Slytherin only deal helped, and within about 10 minutes they were all in the air. They did a slow lap around the campus, not close enough to the ground to buzz anyone, not high enough to be spotted by any stray airplanes. None of them fell off, and once on the ground, Harry was full of smiles.

"Ten points to each of you, that was very good. Now the first lesson is technically finished, so anybody who wants to go back inside can. Anyone caring to stay can come with me to the Quidditch Pitch, where we'll do some racing, and I'll show you some tricks." He picked up his broom, a school model like all the others, and began walking toward the Quiddtich Pitch. All nine of the kids followed him, and when they were halfway there, the inquisitive young Nardulf asked another question:

"Why are we walking over there? Shouldn't we be flying?"

"We're getting some exercise Trenton. The best Quidditch players are also in the best physical condition. Now you all know about Viktor Krum, right?"

"Right." Times nine, Krum was still the most famous and talented player in the world.

"Well when he was here a few years ago, I always saw him exercising. He told my friend Hermione that he wouldn't be close to the flyer he is if he wasn't in great shape too. Trust me, when you're hip deep in a five hour practice, which you will be if any of you make the BQL, you'll not wanting to be carrying an extra 20 pounds." Harry and Hermione were not officially 'out' as a couple to the general public, so they were still 'friends' to those not in the know.

To prove his point, he began jogging the last 200 meters to the Pitch, and the gaggle of 11 year olds was forced to follow suit. There were a lot of tongues hanging out after that short run, and Harry vowed to make that spur of the moment run a feature of the next three classes.

The group spent the next hour racing, and practicing maneuvering around tight turns, and stops and starts. None of the kids were probably candidates for the Slytherin Quidditch team just yet, the First Year ban on participating had been one of McGonagall's new policies, but to Harry's relief not one of them fell off their broom at any point, either from inexperience or rashness. They would have stayed longer, but Harry looked at his watch and saw that dinner was due to start any minute.

"Yikes, we're about to miss dinner. Okay, fly to the front door and leave your brooms there, and get on into The Great Hall. I'll police up the brooms and join you in a bit, and keep your taunting of Mr. Menzel for missing all of this to a minimum. Go on."

Trenton Nardulf, who seemed to be the leader of the youngsters, walked up to Harry and offered his hand.

"Thanks Harry, this was a lot of fun."

A mildly surprised Harry shook it warmly, and the other eight kids lined up to the same. Harry was gratified by the gestures, and after signaling Nardulf to stay behind, he shooed the other kids off to dinner.

"25 points to Slytherin Mr. Nardulf, for class beyond what most 11 year olds are capable of."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter."

He looked over Harry's shoulder, and when our boy turned around he saw McGonagall walking toward them. Nardulf gave a short-ish bow to his Headmistress, and flew off to dinner.

When they were alone:

"Well done Harry, I am very impressed." She did look very pleased.

"How much of it did you see?"

"The entirety of your lesson, I never got a chance to see you with the D.A., I wanted to see how good an instructor you were."

"And I passed muster?"

"With flying colors, pun intended. You will be a worthy choice for Defense Against the Dark Arts when you choose to accept it." A more bold offer had never been tendered to Harry, who was equal to the task:

"Shall we set a deadline of Easter next year for my decision?"

That got a smile in return, because while McG liked Bender, she wanted Harry under a bit more supervision than he was currently. She didn't want to seem too eager though:

"That sounds fair, I get the impression that you are leaning toward…….?"

"Accepting yes, but that is between you and I Minerva."

"And Hermione." She just assumed.

"No, between you and I. This is a decision I need to make on my own, and though she'll try not to, she'll pressure me into saying yes."

"As you wish. Now, will you walk an older lady to dinner?"

"Nope, but I'll happily walk YOU." He had read that in a novel and been waiting to try it on McG, Molly, or Andromeda, whichever opportunity came first.

McGonagall just laughed, the way most women of her indeterminate age do when young men try hard to be gallant, and they walked back to the front doors with little more than idle, but very friendly, chit chat. Nothing was said about The Order, both feeling that enough plotting and planning had gone on already. Their walk into The Great Hall caused a bit of a buzz, especially given that Harry was levitating a dozen broomsticks behind him, not wanting to miss any more of the meal than he had to. He dropped them in front of the faculty table, and took his place between Hermione and Giles Keenan, his more or less unofficial seat. Hermione looked at him with raised eyebrows, but all he said was:

"Just getting my first evaluation is all, it's been a good day."

She said nothing, but smiled at him and squeezed his hand under the table. He held on for the rest of the meal, as they ate their food one handed. They spoke little, but the intimacy of their looks toward each other were their most public displays of affection since their beginning as a couple.

This did not go unnoticed by many of the students closer to the faculty table, and two days later The Daily Prophet ran a page three article speculating that the long speculated about Harry/Hermione match had finally come to fruition. They attempted to contact neither of the pair for confirmation, and most of the public ignored the story.

Except for three people named Malfoy, they paid a bit more attention to it.

Friday, September 12, 1999

6:00 pm

WWW

Harry and Hermione, after a rather public non-handholding parade down the main drag of Diagon Alley, just to make sure Anson Parkinson didn't lose sight of them. They walked into the shop just before closing time, Ron was waiting for them, doing a Cleaning Charm on the front windows. He, a bit obviously perhaps, took his time with the door after Harry and Hermione entered the shop, giving Parkinson enough time to slip inside while still under Disillusionment Charm. They had learned from Fenster that the Ministry watchers were specifically instructed not to go inside WWW unless someone's life and/or safety depended on it, so there was no worry there.

There were no customers in the shop now, and Ron locked the door and enabled the Charm that darkened the windows. Bill and Fleur emerged from the back, along with Neville, and soon there were a lot of people with their wands drawn. Harry called out:

"Anson Parkinson."

A second later, the man appeared. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, but his wand was soon back in his robes. He didn't say anything though, and just stood there. Bill walked up to him.

"Do you have your report?"

Hermione, Ron, and George had been told that Parkinson was working for them in a fashion, but not how.

Well they knew, but not officially, as Fleur, Harry, and Bill had kept the exact details between the three of them.

"I do." Parkinson took a sheaf of paper from a pocket within his robes, enlarged the pages, and handed it over. Harry took them, as Bill queried their 'informant'.

"Were you discovered at all?"

"Not as far as I know."

"When is the next big operation planned?"

"It's still in the planning stages, I don't know when it's going to be."

"What is it?"

"An assassination of some sort, they won't say who. Whomever it is lives near muggles, I know that much."

That caused a minute of pondering. That description fit Harry and Neville most obviously, but the bad folk had opportunities every day to kill Harry, there didn't need to be obsessive planning about it. Likewise Neville was out and about quite a bit and could be gotten to easily without much in the way of 'planning stages' being necessary.

"You caught nothing of a name? Or a gender even?"

"No, I'm not involved in that operation, and they didn't say anything near the Listening Charms you made me place." Parkinson, when he had first started talking, had been visibly fighting his Imperious generated orders to tell what he knew, but by now he just seemed resigned to his 'fate' and was talking freely.

Harry was half reading, half skimming the pages, and they were full of somewhat interesting tidbits about True Voice activities, but nothing of the earth shattering variety. While he did this, Bill brought out the schematic of Malfoy Manor, and showed it to Parkinson, something they had forgotten to do last time.

"Is this accurate?"

Parkinson looked it over for about a minute.

"No." He handed the parchment back, privately hoping that there would be no following up.

No such luck, as Bill dashed his hopes:

"Please elaborate, what's not correct?"

Parkinson sighed and pointed out four things:

"This room labeled study is over there…….there are only five rooms on the third floor, not seven……..this floo fireplace does not exist……….and the kitchen is twice this size, with two rooms off of it that your map doesn't show."

"Has it always been this way? Or has remodeling been done in the last couple of years."

"I have been in and out of that house for years, your schematic was never correct."

A bit of silence passed, and Parkinson couldn't help but smile, the Imperious wouldn't prevent that.

"Uh oh, did someone feed you some bad information?"

"Oh shut up Parkinson." Harry said this while idly waving his wand in his informant's direction.

"This isn't going to be as easy as you thought though, poor Potter." He felt that he was allowed a little enjoyment after all this forced espionage.

"I'll remember that when I'm experimenting on your sister tomorrow." He was going to do nothing of the kind, especially given that he wouldn't be leaving the safe havens of Grimmauld Place and Hogwarts the entire time, where the Malfoys had instructed their flunkies not to tread.

But Anson didn't need to know that.

"If you lay a finger on her……." Give him this much, the man did love his sister.

Harry loved irony in all forms, and this time was no different……..but that statement/threat couldn't go unchallenged.

"Or you'll do what? Eh! What would you be willing to do to me if Lucius would let you? I tickled you for half a minute, you should be very, very grateful that I have a moral code and people to answer to. Your life wouldn't be worth a clipped Knut otherwise." The look on his foe's faced now firmly convinced Harry that more of this should be done in the future. It was either that or get a television to entertain himself with.

Parkinson was now fully aware that he was in a room full of people who didn't like him, and were apparently skilled at Obliviation. So instead he just stood there sulking, while Harry and Bill had a whispered conversation for a few seconds. At Bill's nod, Fleur:

"Stupefy."

Down goes Parkinson.

Repeat the shooing away of those not officially in the know about the Imperious, and Bill gave Parkinson some more Imperious related instructions. Nothing outrageous if taken individually, but added up to a whole it was rather much. Parkinson was soon sent on his way, part of the instructions were that Harry wanted some privacy tonight this evening, and he was to go home.

And he so did, Harry and Hermione would go to dinner at a nice French place that Hermione had always wanted to try. It was candlelit and romantic, a good time was had by all, both during and after. While dessert was being served, in the restaurant:

"So is this what they call 'wining and dining' me Harry?"

"I think you wine and dine someone before I love you's are exchanged, right?"

"Good point. I can only imagine what hoops Parvati and Lavender make their men jump through."

"We'll soon find out." He said this with a smile meaning 'I know something that you don't'.

"Why whatever do you mean?" She was grinning though, knowing it was going to be good.

"I understand that a certain red haired person is thinking about old flames."

Hermione had made the mistake of taking a sip of wine as he said that, and fell just shy of spitting it out on to the table.

"Oh my God, you cannot mean what I think you mean."

"Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown, sitting in a tree, etc."

"They've gone out?"

"Owls have been exchanged a couple of times, that's all I know."

"That's all George knows, you mean."

"We need some amusement, he and I, and Ron is always good for some."

Hermione pondered this for a tick.

"Well good for them, if they want to see if things have changed between them."

"Her Ronniekins?" Harry had always cackled whenever he heard that.

"Oh I'll hex her if I hear that out loud."

They were both laughing, and clicked glasses.

"Does George think this is rebound time, or something else?"

"The former, but as long as Ron doesn't let her anywhere near The Order, more power to him."

"Whatever is best for him, that's all I want." Though she took a dim view of the idea of Ron using poor Lavender to soothe physical and emotional hurt feelings.

"I'm sure he'll be happy with her." Harry had always found Lavender to be attractive, but not interesting otherwise. Maybe she was perfect for Ron, who knew.

The rest of the meal didn't involve Weasleys or Orders or anything of the like, and they soon repaired to Grimmauld Place, where Hermione had spent every night since that first one.

Sunday was a narrow victory over the Wigtown Wanderers, 200-180, with Harry catching his fifth Snitch of the season out of five. He would admit, only to Oliver and Katie at dinner one night, that Wigtown had been his preferred destination before the June draft……only because that name gave him the giggles every time he read it.

"I would have paid them to be able to walk around saying I'm a Wigger." Dissolving into more giggles, joined by Katie. Even Oliver smiled, and he rarely joked about Quidditch.

Katie scored all five of the goals for Puddlemere, and Clive was on the verge of using an Unforgivable or ten on the Beaters, who couldn't protect Harry, the Chasers, or themselves at any point, leaving poor Oliver to pretty much fend for himself. Statistically Oliver was the seventh best Keeper in the BQL, but Clive would tell anyone who would listen that his man would be pitching shutouts with Beaters like the ones the Tornados or Arrows had.

Still, a victory was a victory, and the United were already assured of a better record than the year before. Their bye week was one more game away, and directly after that was the game Harry was already gearing up for some serious taunting about:

Puddlmere United versus The Chudley Cannons.

Tuesday, September 16, 1999

5:00 pm

Notting Hill

Harry and Teddy had spent their afternoon out, with special guest Luna Lovegood, at a local carnival. The little fellow had had a high old time, and kept demanding more pony rides……..well, and snow cones, he loved the snow cones. The carnival was located not far from Andromeda Tonks' flat, and the three of them were planning to walk back, even though Teddy did love riding in cabs whenever he got the chance. Harry was fairly dreading driving a car with Teddy in it though, he resolved to always have someone else around to keep close watch on him.

Teddy had only demanded to be carried once, on the way over, before Luna had conned him into thinking that he should want to walk everywhere, rather than be carried. How she did this Harry was still unclear on, but for some reason Teddy fully understood everything Luna was talking about and did what she wanted more than with anyone else. It helped that he saw her more than the others, Tuesday was now more or less her regular day with him, but Teddy did love Luna.

They passed by the park where Harry usually took him on non-event days, and he waved them to one of the benches.

"I'm tired, I want to sit down for a minute." It had been a long day of practice, and Harry had suffered as much as anyone. Victory had not lightened up Clive it seemed, even with a 3-2 record.

Luna patted him on the hand.

"Poor dear, being a Bludger target all day must be very tiring." That had been two hours each the last two days of practice, Clive trying to improve his Beaters from Troll to merely Dreadful.

"Now you know why I recoiled at that shooting game back there." One of the old style ones where you shoot a pop gun at cans to win a prize.

"You get paid a nice wage to be a target, you should look at it that way." Luna's salary was minimal, but as a full partner in the very nicely selling Quibbler, she did pretty well for herself.

"I do, that's the only thing keeping me up there some days……where do you get that color?" She was now patting Teddy's head, and Harry was referring to her fingernails, which seemed to be tie-dyed. He was fascinated, and brought her hand up to look at them, he had only vaguely noticed this during the preceding four hours.

"Just some experimenting, I've been trying to get Hermione to try it too." Luna didn't usually like being handled like this, Teddy excepted, but she didn't mind it when Harry did so.

Harry started laughing, Hermione often went days at a time without wearing more than a bare amount of make-up, though she did let her nails grow.

"You get that stuff on her, and keep it there for a day, and I'll buy you dinner anywhere in Britain that you want."

"Done." She put out a tie-dyed fingered hand and Harry shook it, Harry had put no time limit on the bet and Luna figured that she could just ask Hermione to do it for a Christmas present.

Teddy proceeded to grab their hands and shake them up and down, he loved the motion of it all, and soon they were all laughing. Luna was looking around, and spotted it first.

"I wonder where that smoke is coming from? Isn't that near Andromeda's?" Her sense of direction was not the greatest.

"Yeah it is, looks like a car blew up or something." They could hear the tell-tale signs of the fire brigade in the distance, but neither of them thought much about it.

"Speaking of such, when do you get your car permit thing?"

Harry had thrown up a Silencing Bubble as soon as they sat down, wand discreetly used of course, so that they could speak freely about forbidden things.

"I'm scheduled for one more lesson, then my final test. Once that's done, I just have some paperwork to fill out and I'll be all set."

"Will you buy a car?"

"Oh you bet I am. You should come with, on the auto shopping day."

"Oh that should be an experience I would not want to miss." Teddy was now slapping everyone's hands together, all those snow cones had given him tons of energy.

"He's going to tire out soon, isn't he? I mean he's got more energy than I do."

"He doesn't have your worries Harry, he knows that he is well taken care of."

Amen to that, Harry thought. After a few minutes, the three of them were on their way again. Harry on the left, Luna the right, each of them holding on to a hand of Teddy, who was in the middle. More than one muggle walking by remarked to their companion about what a nice looking young family they made………and young being the operative word, Harry and Luna both could pass for a couple years younger than they were, and that generated thoughts, but not any out loud comments.

It was slow going, as any Teddy walk tended to be, so it was another 15 minutes before they came into sight of Andromeda's flat………

And they finally saw what was causing all the smoke, Andromeda's home was destroyed. The flames were now being put out by the firemen, the flats on either side had caught fire as well. Harry instinctively looked up into the air, there was no Dark Mark or any sign that this was magical.

Then he looked at Luna, whose expression was one of horror tinged with fascination. Teddy was just impatient, he didn't really know which flat was his from the outside, but he knew he was home and was tugging at Harry and Luna to come on.

"I have a bad feeling about this Harry."

"Me too Luna, but we have to find out."

He left Teddy with Luna, and approached the fireman who seemed to be in charge.

"Hello sir, that's my cousin's flat." It was the best he could come up with on such short notice.

"And who are you?"

"Harry Tonks, she's my cousin by marriage actually. I was coming by to visit her…….is she……"

"There was a body found inside, yes lad. I'm sorry." He did sound sorry too.

"A 50-something woman?"

"Appears to be, from what my boys tell me, they pulled her out about 10 minutes ago. There was no one else in the place, what about her husband?"

"He died last year, and their daughter too." He didn't want to mention Remus.

"Again, I'm sorry. The bobbies will want to talk to you, someone needs to make a positive identification of her……what was her name you said?"

"I didn't, it was Andromeda Tonks, she was a teacher at The Mansfield School."

"My kids went there, I remember the name. You remember a name like Andromeda, I'm sure she was a nice lady." The man's people had this well in hand, and he thought that an increasingly shell shocked looking Harry might need a chat. He looked over and saw Luna and Teddy.

"That your family?"

"Um, yes sir. That's my godson and my sister. I should go tell them."

"Go right ahead, I'll go find the copper for you."

"Thank you sir." He went back over to Teddy and Luna and recounted what he was told.

"Do you dare stay here Harry?"

"It's too late for that now. Hopefully The Ministry has been alerted by now." He said this a little louder than normal, hoping that his following, the unfortunate Ms. Fenster, had gone back to Kingsley to tell him about all of this.

"Harry Tonks?"

It was the copper that the fireman had told Harry about.

"Yes sir." He reflexively reached out his hand, and the man shook.

"Detective Tom Braden. I would say pleased to meet you….." Braden seemed like an affable type.

"I know what you mean sir. This is Teddy and Luna." They both nodded hello.

"We can do this here, or at the morgue, but the body of Ms. Tonks will have to be positively identified."

"Let's get it over with."

They began walking over to a stretcher, where Harry hoped that Andromeda was, he wanted no part of going inside.

"When did you last see Ms. Tonks?"

"This past Thursday, we had tea." Not true, he had picked up Teddy this morning and dropped him off at The Burrow before collecting him after practice.

"You were close to her?"

"Pretty close, we see……sorry, saw, each other twice a week on the average."

"Husband and daughter dead, that's what you told Richard." A gentle interrogation it may have seemed, but an interrogation all the same.

"Yes sir, Ted died in a mugging. Dora was killed in a car crash." The first was sort of true, and the second was the standard explanation to muggles of how magical people died magically.

"Very bad luck."

"I know I'll be looking both ways when I cross the street from now on."

Braden smiled, but then noticed that Harry wasn't smiling at all.

In fact Harry was using every ounce of self control not to be looking around. They walked up to the stretcher. Braden drew the sheet back just far enough to show the head.

It was Andromeda.

Harry, never a crying type of person, nevertheless had some tears come to his eyes as he looked at her. Braden took this as confirmation, but had to ask anyway:

"I'm sorry lad. Can you confirm that this is Andromeda Tonks?"

"Yes sir, that's her. I guess she died of smoke inhalation?"

"So it would seem, Richard's people found no evidence of outside trauma." Richard Newton was the head fireman that Harry had talked to.

Harry knew that they wouldn't, but he also knew that no magical person above the age of 17 would be killed like this, since they could either fight the fire with their wands, or Apparate away. She would have had to have been rendered unconscious beforehand. He wouldn't put it past Lucius Malfoy to use Petrificus Totalus, so that she could know.

"We're still investigating the cause of the fire, that will probably take awhile. Is there a number you can be reached at? You being a family member and all."

"Yes sir." He suddenly realized that an investigation meant that the neighbors would be talked to, and that meant Teddy. There was no way he was going to leave his godson in the hands of the Social Service agencies. He quickly gave out the muggle phone number for The Ministry.

"Ask for Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's my boss. He'll know how to get hold of me."

"Good enough. Your little boy is squirming over there, better go look to him."

"Yes sir." Harry held out his hand again, and after a firm shake, he all but ran over to Teddy and Luna. Luna had been doing her best to calm an increasingly fidgety Teddy. Once there, Harry used his pocketed wand to put up a quick and dirty Silencing Bubble.

"Let's go back to the park, I have a portkey we can use that'll take us to WWW."

"The Ministry must have people here by now." Luna was wondering whether they should just wait for the cavalry to arrive, as it surely must.

"I'm not worried about that right now, as far as I'm concerned none of us are ever coming back here again."

End Chapter


	17. All in the Family

Author's Note: It's not a plot surprise to tell you that Teddy Lupin will have to be told at some point that his grandmother is deceased. Now I'm not a child psychologist in any way, shape, or form, so my method is pure, unadulterated guesswork. Any professionals, or folks with real experience in doing this, that are out there will forgive me I hope.

Tuesday, September 16, 1999 continued

5:30 pm

Notting Hill

"We're never coming back here again." Harry was walking as fast as Teddy would let him, but was very cognizant of the fact that muggles could still see them. Speaking of Teddy:

"Where going Harry?"

"We're going to The Burrow Teddy, to see Aunt Molly."

Teddy knew Burrow and Molly meant great food, so he was very happy to hear all of this. Luna just looked at Harry like she was sure that he knew what he was doing. She turned to Teddy.

"Teddy okay? Teddy happy?"

"Teddy happy Luna." He loved saying Luna, and she was convinced that that was the source of most of her influence over him. She was dreading the moment when Harry was going to tell him that his grandmother was dead, but put that thought away for the time being.

The walk back to the park went a lot faster once they were out of sight of the fire aftermath. Harry put a Feather Light Charm on Teddy and hoisted him up on his still slight shoulders.

"Just don't move around Teddy, stay still and we'll move really fast."

Teddy liked fast, one reason he dug cab rides, so he obeyed and they got back to the park in eight minutes, down from the 15 it had taken on the opposite direction. There was a large hedge on one side of the park that was very popular with teenagers and other amorous types, and Harry guided them right there.

He took the piece of rope out of his pocket, enlarged it, and motioned for Luna to grab on.

"Teddy, you need to grab the rope as hard as you can. Okay."

"Okay Harry." And he did, he may have been rambunctious but he took instruction pretty well for someone his age.

It helped that Luna took her free hand and pressed it over Teddy's, just to make sure. Harry smiled at her, while gripping his own end and taking out his wand.

"You're very handy. Activate!"

WWW was only a few kilometers away, so they only took about two seconds to get there, winding up in the living room of the shop's small apartment.

Where thankfully George was not entertaining anyone at present. Harry left Teddy with Luna and walked over to the main shop area.

"Anybody home?"

"Who's there?" It was George, he was down in the basement invention area.

"It's Harry and Luna, get up here!"

George came up at medium speed, not really buying the urgency in his mate's voice.

"You and Luna, you know if you spend any more time with that girl, Hermione's going to get…….uh oh, what happened?" He stopped his snark once he saw the expression on Harry's face.

"Well Andromeda is dead and her place is a cinder, how's that?"

George let that sink in for a second:

"Okay, joke time is over."

"Yeah, I'd say so. We're going to The Burrow. Where's Ron?"

"Off to Gringotts with the day's takings." The shop had just closed.

"Are you two doing anything tonight?"

"I was going to work, I have no idea what Ron's……." He was interrupted by the front doorbell ringing. Harry's wand was out in an instant and trained on the doorway. George just yelled:

"Ron!?"

"Yeah?!" The reply was instant, and it was in fact Ron."

Harry went back into the living room and grabbed Luna and Teddy, as George, then Ron, hurried in after him. George was muttering to Ron about what little he knew of the situation.

"Why The Burrow, why not Headquarters?" Which how he would always think of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Because Teddy needs all the friendly faces and surroundings he can get right now, and if there's one thing my house is not, it's friendly." He took a deep breath.

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Yes, the young Master, what does he want from Kreacher?" Over the last two months Kreacher had not been yelled at, belittled, or otherwise ill treated, and it was finally dawning on him that none of this was going to happen anytime soon either, as long as he behaved. So he was quite eager to keep the gravy train flowing and his voice was very respectful.

Harry took Kreacher out into the hallway.

"I want you to prepare the room next to mine for Teddy. He will be coming to live with us permanently from now on. You will consider him your number two Master behind me, and when he reaches his majority, he will be your number one Master. Remember, he is a Black."

Oh Kreacher remembered alright, and Harry had never seen him smile so large in his life.

"It will be as you wish."

"And Kreacher? You know all the people who have been in our house for our meetings?"

"Yes Master?"

"If anyone new tries to come in, without one of us immediately following…….restrain them, in any way that makes you happy and still gets the job done without killing them. Am I understood?"

"Oh yes young Master, Kreacher understands you." A note of glee in his voice perhaps.

"You may go, we'll be along sometime tonight. Thank you Kreacher."

"Master."

CRACK!

He walked back into the living room, to find that George had gone. Ron explained.

"He flooed home to let Mum know we're coming. Are you expecting anything?"

"I have no idea, I'm still trying to process it. But when in doubt, go to ground. Are you coming?" He was really hoping there was no Lavender tonight.

"Sure."

"Luna?"

"Well of course, Teddy needs us."

Luna was the smallest person in the room, or in the Order for that matter, and she gathered up Teddy and brought him into the fireplace with her. Andromeda did not have a floo in her flat, so Teddy didn't get to do this very often, and he was very excited.

"The Burrow!"

And they vanished.

"Ron, could you go get Bill and Fleur?" Harry figured that the floo might be busy at The Burrow for a bit.

"Sure, but before we go……..you really think Lucius had his sister in law killed?"

"Who else would have done it?"

"That's cold mate."

"I hope Narcissa kicks him in the minerals." He motioned for Ron to go first, and after he was gone, Harry left, first to Hogwarts to get Hermione, then to The Burrow.

Meanwhile, at The Ministry of Magic:

Kingsley and his Auror spy Malia Fenster entered Gawain Robards office after a hurried rush over. Robards knew who Fenster was and what her assignment was, and chose to leap to the logical conclusion.

"So what happened? What did Potter do?"

He was answered by Fenster:

"He didn't do anything Minister, at least not yet. Andromeda Tonks' flat was burned out, and she was killed in the fire."

"How did Potter react?" Robards didn't look the least bit surprised, leading the other two to wonder if he had prior knowledge of this, either before or after the fact.

"Like someone had killed a close friend of his, which was the truth. He got the particulars from the muggles, told them it was indeed Andromeda's body, and got the hell out of there." She then gave a one minute expansion of that summary, her ultimate boss nodding all the while.

"So he has the boy with him?"

"Yes sir, the two of them and Lovegood took a portkey out of there."

"And he said nothing that would have tipped the muggles off to our world?"

"Of course not sir, he seemed completely in control the entire time." Fenster marveled at that too.

"Excellent. Malia, you can go home now, I'm sure Potter won't be venturing out in public until his practice tomorrow. Inform the others of that and have them take a night off."

"Yes sir." With a look to Kingsley that confirmed that he had nothing further for her as well, she departed.

"So Kinglsey, did Lucius have it done?"

"I don't know, but who else could it be?" That got asked a lot this day.

"True enough, I think we need to have your people start planning for a raid on Malfoy Manor. Beat the bushes first and see if we can get some information on when their next big meeting is, we can raid it as they're having it."

"Why not just snatch the person following Harry?"

"I doubt they would know much of anything, they wouldn't have anyone with any knowledge right there for the taking."

Hmmmmm

"Are Lucius and Narcissa going to try to get custody of the boy? She's his closest living relative." He could only imagine the carnage from Harry if that happened, the lad would lay waste to the entire Ministry, literally, before letting Narcissa Malfoy near his godson.

"No Kingsley, we don't have to worry about that. Part of the deal Lucius struck was that he renounces all rights to Theodore Lupin and pledges that he will not try to seek him out until his majority. His wife and son agreed without seeming to hesitate, so that's one problem we don't have to worry about."

Kingsley had not known this, Robards had seen to the Malfoy pardon personally.

"So Harry will get him?"

"I'd be astonished if her will said otherwise."

Kingsley pondered that for a moment, and the inherent problems it was going to cause him and his Aurors.

"I have one of my people undercover with the muggle investigators, they'll do their own crime scene work and report back to me."

"I'm sure there will be no trace, this was probably very carefully planned. They might not have even used magic at all, I'm sure any muggle burglar could have gotten in there."

This caused Kingsley to think of something:

"Okay, devil's advocate: What if this was a muggle deal? Could it just be some random act of violence?"

"Make sure your undercover person gets enough evidence to rule that in or out."

"Yes sir."

"Now tell me, how will your young friend react?" That was Robards' nickname for Harry when talking to Kingsley.

"He's not going to go off half cocked, I know that much."

"How sure are you of that?"

"I'm not going to bet my job on it, if that's what you're asking."

Robards laughed easing the sudden tension.

"No Kingsley, I know who's side you're on, don't worry. Now let's talk about the Weasley situation."

Back to The Burrow

The Order, minus it's older Hogwarts faculty and a classroom bound Neville, was now gathered in the Weasley living room, as Harry told them what he knew, and it was damn little. Percy alone of the Britain based family was not there, but there was nothing sinister about it this time, he was in The Leaky Cauldron attempting to rekindle his relationship with Penelope Clearwater. His Listening Charms had been muted for the time being.

Teddy was up in Ron's room taking a nap, not realizing that he was the star of the show here for all the wrong reasons.

Molly was the first to voice it.

"When are we going to tell him about his grandmother?"

Of the people in the room, only Luna had lost a parent/guardian at an age where it could be understood, Harry and Katie being too young when they lost their parents and mother respectively. Harry, knowing this, turned to Luna.

"What do you think Luna? Do we wait until he asks where she is? Or do we go straight in?"

Luna had not expected this line of questioning, and pondered for a bit.

"When he stays at your house, how often does he ask for her?"

"He doesn't usually, Neville and I keep him busy enough that he's too tired at the end of the day."

"Well I would wait until he asks for her then, then he'll be thinking of her and it won't be too much work for him."

This made a lot of sense, even Molly was agreeing with that one……until the next question.

"Should we go back to Grimmauld Place?"

Luna was very much unaccustomed to be the center of attention at things like this, but rose to the occasion.

"I do, it will be his home now, and the quicker he gets used to it the better off we will all be."

Harry looked around the room:

"Anyone want to rebut that?"

Molly dearly wanted to, but she and Arthur knew that after the Percy situation came to the forefront, still unsettled, Harry listened to them less than anyone else in the room. She always thought that The Burrow was the best place for anyone, it was home. Not that mausoleum that Harry and Neville lived in, she would have preferred The Burrow for Order meetings as well.

Arthur had no such reticence, in particular he felt that he and Molly should take the lead here, since they were the only parents of the bunch.

"Harry, perhaps the two of you could stay here for a bit." He left unsaid how long he thought 'a bit' was.

"Why's that?" Harry knew what was coming, but was hoping that he was wrong.

"A little boy growing up in that house? With Kreacher?"

Harry just looked at Arthur a bit sadly.

"Kreacher is the least of our problems, he worships Teddy. No, I don't trust him to be alone in the house with Teddy, but I'm getting there. Now ask what you really want to ask."

A slight bit of challenge in that voice, but he wasn't wrong.

"Okay, I will: Are you ready to be a parent Harry?"

Hermione and Luna both just prayed that Harry would be diplomatic in his reply, while everyone else just tensed up.

"You were my age when Bill was born, so one can assume you're talking about more than just age, right?"

"Molly and I had had a much more peaceful, less dramatic life that you've had when we were your age. We also had nine months to get used to the idea." Bill had not been a planned or unplanned baby, they had simply eschewed birth control back in the day and taken their chances.

Harry had a brief flash of mental rage at his age being constantly questioned by this man, but hid it by taking a sip of his cola.

"I think my 'dramatic life' as you put it, has prepared me better to be a parent. I might not have your experiences with loving families, but I am all too familiar with what NOT to do. Mistakes were made with my upbringing, and no one has learned better from them than I have. Besides, if not me, then who? Who will care for him as much as I do? Who has the time? I work five hours a day at the most and I have the time to spend with him for the next four years and change before he goes off to school. If it really comes to it I can stop playing Quidditch for awhile and have my entire day free." Oliver reacted very visibly to that, but Katie hastily whispered to him that surely Harry was just making a point for the sake of making a point.

More than a couple of eyes were now looking sideways at Hermione, who was now the girlfriend of a young man with a kid, more or less. She had been very quiet so far, just listening.

Arthur was not done talking though, and felt that someone had to say it.

"Teddy could live here with us, he likes it here and Molly would be around for him all of the time."

Molly, of course not consulted about this offer ahead of time, was nevertheless nodding her head in full agreement.

But she was the only one, even Ginny looked rather appalled at the idea of her parents trying to take Teddy away from Harry. Bill had to lay a hand on Fleur's arm because she looked ready to start her verbal guns blazing.

Harry responded, more kindly than anyone expected.

"I know you mean well, but he'll be just fine at Grimmauld Place with Neville, Kreacher and myself. I just have to make sure he doesn't get fat from Kreacher's cooking, it'll spoil a kid." He got up, suddenly thinking that hiding out here was a terrible idea that he never should have gone with. Without another word, he went up to Ron's room and looked in his godson. He knelt by the bed, lightly shaking the boy awake.

"Teddy, c'mon buddy, we have to go."

Teddy took a few seconds to figure out who that dude was that was yammering at him.

"Go?"

"Yes Teddy, we have to go to my house. Kreacher has some food for you."

Teddy was the only one in the known world who liked Kreacher without hesitation, so he smiled sleepily and got up.

"C'mon, we'll got to Hogwarts and then my house, okay?"

"Okay Harry." No mention of his grandmother, and he happily got up on Harry's back for a Feather-Light aided piggy back ride. Bill met them at the door.

"You heading home?"

"Yeah, this was not one of my better ideas in retrospect."

"I suppose I should say thanks for not teeing off on Dad."

"That's why this was a bad idea, I should have figured on something like that happening."

"You were too busy thinking about Teddy, nothing wrong with that."

"Are they going to give this up, or will I have to consistently beat off these proposals?"

"I guess you weren't looking round the room then, everyone else was on your side, even Ginny, she looked mad at the mere suggestion."

"Really?"

"Yes really Harry, she's not the harridan…….." He got no further.

"I know Bill, I know, I just wasn't sure if there was still some residual stuff there is all."

"I'm sure there is, but she can get past it."

"Thank God……and I just thought of something, if your parents think I'm going to put Teddy anywhere near Percy on a daily basis until we've figured out whose side he's on….."

"I know, I was thinking the same thing. Any help you need with him, all you have to do is ask, you know that right?"

"Thank you, it means a lot to hear you say that."

All the while Teddy was tugging at Harry's sleeve, wanting to go. He had Kreacher's food on the brain now and wasn't to be dissuaded.

The three of them walked downstairs, and Harry looked at everybody.

"Anyone who would like to is welcome to come back with me for dinner. Otherwise, I'll see you on Sunday at the usual meeting time."

He led Teddy over to the floo, and passed by Ginny as he did. He murmured as he passed by:

"Thank you." Which got him a small smile in return, and Bill looked very pleased.

Harry was just barely small enough to fit with Teddy in the floo and throw the powder, and soon they were gone.

They appeared in the Grimmauld Place floo within seconds after their departure from Hogwarts, he really needed to give the place a name Harry thought.

"Go again Harry." Teddy liked flooing apparently, on his third trip of the afternoon.

"Later Teddy, now for food eh?"

"Yes, food. Where Gramma?"

Abrupt segues were usually Harry's stock in trade lately, and he was thrown a bit as he heard the floo fire again.

Out came Hermione, then Luna, followed by the others, even Ginny. They were all rallying around Teddy this evening.

"Where Gramma?" Teddy was getting alarmed that Harry wasn't answering his question, he was spoiled enough that people usually hopped to it when he wanted something. Except Andromeda, but she was his every day presence.

Harry was thinking as fast as he could, he had banked on having the rest of the night to think about it a little, perhaps even get a rehearsal in.

"Come over here Teddy."

He walked his godson to the couch and sat him down, kneeling in front of him so that he could look Teddy in the eyes.

"Teddy, Gramma is with your mum and dad right now."

"Mum and dad?" Teddy had been shown pictures of Tonks many times, as well as the few that Andromeda had had of Remus, but the concept of life and death still eluded him.

"Yes Teddy, she had to go be with them."

"Why?"

Harry decided now that honesty was the best policy.

"I don't know Teddy." And he didn't really.

"Harry not know?" He thought that Harry knew everything.

"No Teddy, I'm sorry."

"How long she gone?"

"Indefinitely Teddy." He then mentally cursed himself for using that work, which Teddy wouldn't know.

"What that?" Teddy was starting to cry now, seeing how sad Harry was.

"A long time buddy." He reached out and pulled his godson into a hug.

Teddy, still not really understanding what was going on here, hugged back, and Harry was trying hard not to cry. But he didn't. They held like that for about a minute, before Teddy stopped crying.

"Where Nevie?" Meaning Neville, Neville was always around when Teddy was here.

"Neville is at work, he'll be back tonight." To Harry's relief, Teddy seemed to grasp this.

"Okay. Where Kreacher?"

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Ah the crowd is here. And the new Master." He bowed to Teddy, who hopped off the couch and patted Kreacher on the back……..to the astonishment of most everyone there not named Harry and Hermione, who had seen this before.

"Hi Kreacher. Want food."

"Come with me." He slouched off toward the kitchen, and Teddy followed, chattering at Kreacher as if they were best friends.

Harry just looked at the crowd.

"Well I guess that could have gone much, much worse." He sighed and sat down on the couch himself. It had been a very long day already.

Hermione went to sit next to him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not the one who needs to be asked that, my grandmothers died years ago. But we're here for him, and that's what matters."

Hermione, practical person that she was, had a thought:

"Something tells me that Kreacher will be busy for awhile, why don't a couple of us go out and get takeout food and bring it back."

"Muggle restaurant food?" Ron loved restaurants, where he could order anything he wanted.

"That's the idea, Fleur, Katie, why don't you come with me. We'll be back in a bit." Why she picked those two wasn't readily apparent, but the other two women shrugged and followed her to the door. Before she did, Fleur bent down and whispered something into Harry's ear, which made him chuckle.

Ron had to ask, as the front door closed.

"What was that about?"

"Sorry, private joke." He hoisted himself off of the couch.

"I'm going to see what those two are up to and get some drinks for everyone."

"I'll come with you, to help. Ron?" This was Oliver, and while Ron had never been under Oliver's 'command' so to speak, he followed along dutifully.

Once in the kitchen they observed Teddy and Kreacher making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Neville was addicted to them, so there was always a lot of the material around.

"Harry, I thought it best to ask in here, away from certain people……but what are you going to do with the young man over there when you're at practice? No offense Ron, but I don't know if it's a good idea to leave him with Molly right now." He was testing Katie's making a point theory.

That had more than occurred to Harry, and he looked at Ron.

"What do you think?"

"I'm with him, it'll only encourage Mum and Dad in their view that you need help. Their help."

"I know, and that's the pickle. Everyone but her works in the morning. Ron, could you and George take him a couple mornings a week?"

"Of course, it's mostly paperwork before lunch anyway. It'll be fun to have him around more often."

"Good deal, I'll drop him off on my way to practice. Hang on a sec." He walked over to the doorway and shouted:

"Hey Luna! Could you give us a hand here!"

Seconds later Luna strolled through the door.

"Making babysitting arrangements I gather?" She had that Luna smile of hers going.

The three men were slightly taken aback, which made her smile spread.

"Yes, you were that obvious, but I don't know if Molly and Arthur picked up on it, they're not schemers by nature. Ronald, shall we say odd days this week at WWW and odd days next week at The Quibbler on a rotating basis?"

"Umm……sure Luna, that sounds great."

"You, George, and I are the only ones who are our own employers, it makes the most sense."

Now Harry got a glimpse of what Luna must be like at work, someone had to keep that paper running on all cylinders.

"Thank you both. Once all of this dies down, the Malfoy business and all, I'll find a muggle daycare center for him. I'll need to………" More walking to the door:

"Bill!"

Bill came into the kitchen.

"Are we having a meeting in here?" He was joking, and was relieved to see Luna and his brother smile.

"Can Gringott's get some papers for Teddy?"

"Identity papers?"

"He's going to have to disappear from his old life, I'm sure the muggles have files on him."

"I see your point, I'll talk with my superiors, and maybe we can have Dad work through The Ministry." He almost winced as he said the last part.

"Sounds good, he's our best person for doing that over there, Ginny's too junior." He had finished the drinks while he talked

"Dad will come through, even if you didn't take him up on the offer."

"I know he will, but ask him to do it tomorrow before your mum has a chance to work on him too much."

"You said no Harry, they'll accept that."

"I can only hope."

"I'll find out about Andromeda's will too, it should be on file. Are you sure she will custody to you?" All magical adults in Great Britain were required to have a will on file, and those with minor children were legally required to make custody arrangements if they were not survived by a spouse. Bill looked at the others:

"Ron, Luna, Oliver, can you excuse us for a second?"

A collective 'sure' followed, and the three of them took the drinks out into the living room. Bill kept his voice low, as Teddy was now eating his sandwich.

"What's Hermione going to say to all of this?"

"I'm going to hope that she realizes that there wasn't another choice here."

"She might say that there was one: Mum and Dad."

Harry would have waved that off if he had a free hand at present.

"That's not a choice Bill, she'll understand that. Besides, it's not like wedding invitations had been prepared or anything. There's still a lot of time to get used to things."

"So you two haven't talked about it? The future?"

"Not really, not as far as marriage goes. I love her, more than I can express, and that's enough for now."

"Fair enough. Let's get back in there." He walked to the door, while Harry looked toward his godson.

"C'mon Teddy, go with Uncle Bill, I need to talk to Kreacher."

"Okay Harry." Teddy grabbed his sandwich and juice bottle, and waddled out after Bill.

"Is his room set up?"

"Of course Master, was done before he got here."

"Good job."

"When will Master be telling his friend Neville?"

Kreacher wasn't big for asking questions, so this took Harry a bit aback.

"When he gets home, I can't wait for that conversation." He was sure Neville would be fine with it though.

Hermione and company soon returned with a stack of pizzas, and while Arthur and Molly were a bit hesitant at first, they soon dug in like everyone else. It was their maiden pizza experience, Arthur was out in London thrice a week but avoided muggle restaurants, but everyone was enjoying the experience.

With Teddy around, nothing of any substance was discussed, certainly not anything to do with his grandmother's death. They ate their pizza and stayed on the nice, safe topics of Quidditch and Harry's driving test, which was to be a week from Thursday. Everyone wanted to be in on the car buying trip, but as Hermione correctly pointed out, they couldn't have 15 people go with him, it wouldn't look right.

By 8:00 pm pretty much everyone had left, some wanting to give Harry and Hermione some time alone before Neville got there, others just deciding on an early night. Teddy was put to bed in his permanent room, the same one that had been his guest room while Andromeda had been on holiday in Greece, so at least he was familiar with it. Harry was half tempted to drug his juice, just to make sure his little guy had a peaceful night, but ultimately decided to just let the chips fall where they may.

He and Hermione were straightening up the living room as Luna, the last one of those leaving, flooed home.

Harry decided to be direct:

"So how do you feel about all this?"

"About what?" Hermione was in George's area, and was marveling at how he could make a mess even with pizza.

"About Teddy coming to live here."

That brought Hermione up short.

"Well what choice do we have? We can't leave him with strangers, and I'm not wild about Molly and Arthur raising him."

"Why not?"

"Because only Bill really turned out right there, if you think about it. Charlie left as soon as he could, like Bill told us about; Fred and George, need we say more?; Percy was indulged even as his brothers loathed him; Ron and Ginny were somewhat trapped in your shadow once you showed up and their parents didn't seem to make much effort to alleviate that……And Molly is not a modern person, and Teddy needs to be raised in a modern way, with muggle exposure. She wouldn't let him out of her sight until it was time for Hogwarts, and that cannot be healthy for anyone."

Harry just stared at her, gaping. She smiled now and allowed it, waiting for him to say something. It was clear that she had been wanting to say something like this for quite some time. Hermione clearly had long had some Weasley issues bothering her, even before she and Harry had gotten together.

"She gave you another Easter egg, didn't she? Or the equivalent?"

"Not really, just some looks. I doubt we've said more than 10 words to each other since Ron and I split. I just don't like how they always assume that you don't know what you're doing, just because you're 19. I mean the twins started that great business when they were that age, right under their noses I might add."

"You always mock the business though, don't you?" It was a change of tune kind of.

"Well not for them……well for George, since he's so great with it. He's found his niche, and a successful one at that."

"I'm glad you think so, since he'll be one of Teddy's babysitters."

"Those two and Luna?"

"Right, she'll make up a schedule or something."

"That is one great friend, Luna. I'm sorry we didn't make an effort to be friends with her before we did."

"She's great with Teddy."

"I imagine that they connect on many levels." She didn't mean it as a dig either.

"Getting back to my earlier point……you're fine with this? Us as a family kind of?"

Hermione was now done with George's mess, and walked over to Harry, putting her hands in his.

"This is not how I had it planned, no. I've thought about us as a family, you and I, sure, all the time. I'm comfortable around you, with you, in a way that I never was with Ron, romantically. I know I want to be with you forever, and one reason that I love you so much is that you have a nobility of spirit that goes beyond what anyone else has. You see the right thing to do, and you do it, or at the very least you give it your best effort. I have no doubt in my mind that you didn't think for one second about Teddy being anywhere else but here with you. With us……..well us, Neville, and Kreacher." She smiled at the end of that, and Harry squeezed her hands and kissed her.

"Thank you for that. I wouldn't want to boot Neville out." They both started laughing.

"No, there's plenty of room for him, and Ron too if it came to it."

"You could handle Ron Ron and Lavender hanging around here?" He loved the look on her face as he said it, and had to hide his own face in her hair so that she wouldn't see his grin.

"Well………okay, let's leave him at The Burrow unless he asks to move in, which he won't."

"Why not?"

"I still don't think he likes seeing the two of us together, no matter what he might be up to with Lavender. With us here, not that he knows I live here…….right?"

"Not unless Neville told him."

"I'm sure he didn't, Neville is the soul of discretion. None of our other friends are candidates to move in, so it'll just be the five of us." She didn't know that Harry, without telling anyone, had sent an owl to Charlie saying that if he ever moved back to Britain, a bedroom awaited him at Grimmauld Place.

"Our own little family."

Hermione was hesitant to bring this up, but…….

"Harry, are you sure that Andromeda left him to you?"

"She said that she did, the day I brought him back after her holiday. She told me that she had made the will change after Christmas when he came out to The Burrow and she got to see me with him."

"And she didn't tell you until July?"

"Well no one thought that her life was in danger. If anyone on our side should have been safe it was her, it's not like she even fought in the war. We all just assumed that there was a hands off policy from the other side toward her."

"True, that's a good point. Go up and check on him, I'll finish it up in here." Hermione mainly cleaned up so as not to have to listen to Kreacher's muttering as he did it. Harry tolerated the muttering as long as he didn't call anyone any nasty names, but it still bothered Hermione a little.

Neville returned a bit after 9:00, by himself fortunately, and was apprised of the new living situation in their house.

"Wow, it never occurred to me that they would do something like that."

"So you're cool with it?"

"Of course, the more the merrier. We have room for a dozen more if need be."

"Well let's keep it at the five of us for now."

"What are you going to do about Lucius?"

In all the conversation since the fire, this topic had been very studiously avoided. Teddy had been around most of the time anyway, and Harry and Hermione had been waiting for Neville.

"I can't do anything right now, if that bastard gets so much as a stubbed toe I'd be the first suspect. We'll let Kingsley and company do their investigation, and let things lie for now. Right now we need to concentrate on Teddy."

Hermione somehow kept her vast sigh of relief to herself, and Neville was just nodding.

"That's the right play. I wonder why he did it?"

"I don't know what he'll tell his wife, but I'm sure he thinks that either it will make me more cautious in the long run, or cause me to flip out and do something stupid. Either way he benefits, so I have to make sure that I'm going straight down the middle."

"You'll have to be cautious now, with Teddy."

"Yeah, but not in the way they think. You'll see."

Malfoy Manor

Time Indeterminate:

Narcissa Malfoy walked into the study, and found her husband and son sharing a drink. They were not smiling, fortunately for their collective health, as Narcissa looked at her son.

"Draco, please leave your father and alone for a few minutes."

"Mother…….."

"NOW!" Narcissa raising her voice was a rare thing, since she never really needed to in her position, people just snapped to it.

And so her son did, beating a semi-hasty retreat in the face of that anger. He said nothing to his father.

Narcissa walked over the bar and made herself a drink, all the while knowing that she was being watched very closely by her husband. She took a sip, and turned to him.

"You had my sister killed." She kept her voice under control.

"Yes." Not a smug acknowledgement, but neither did her sound regretful, he kept his voice carefully neutral.

"I don't suppose that you had the minerals to do the job yourself?"

"A good leader never gets his hands dirty my dear, you know that." He chose not to rise to the bait.

"Yaxley then?" The next logical person in the assumption chain.

"I'm sorry, but I won't tell you who. We need every man and woman in our organization, we cannot afford to have you kill any of them."

"Who says I would do that?"

"I do."

That he was correct did not in any way lessen her anger.

"Lucius, why did you kill my sister?"

"Are you really telling me that you mourn her? The mudblood lover?" He seemed genuinely mystified.

"She was my sister, even our Lord never tried anything on her."

"Our Lord was not infallible." The new mantra of Lucius in the last months.

"You're not even sorry, are you?" She heard the sorry before, but assumed it was sorry for not saying who killed Andromeda.

"I am sorry for you, my dear. I am an only child, I do not know what it is like to lose one sibling to a war, let alone two. But no, I am not sorry that Andromeda Tonks is dead, or that I caused it."

"I would like to know why, I believe you owe me that much at the very least."

"No answer I give will satisfy you, so why should I bother at all?" This was Lucius at his finest.

"I'm your wife, in case you've forgotten."

"She was your sister, yet you haven't spoken to her in over two decades." Not since her surprise elopement with Ted Tonks, her family had not even known of the relationship before the marriage.

"At your urging!"

"If you had really loved her, that would not have stopped you."

That brought Narcissa up short, and her reply was familiar, but a bit weakened.

"You still had no right."

"On the contrary my dear, I have every right. Whatever my title, I am the leader of our movement, and I made the tactical decision that Andromeda should be liquidated."

"Why?"

"To add a burden to young Harry, now he has a child to take care of."

That set her off:

"Have you gone crazy?! If you think I'm going to let that headstrong boy raise my nephew!………"

She really had not read the agreement before she signed it, and Lucius smiled.

"You have no choice Narcissa, our pardon agreements named Theodore Lupin specifically. The three of us cannot so much as say hello to him until he reaches his majority, without permission of his guardian." That he was planning to make a formal request to do so, to Harry, was not something his wife needed to be burdened with right now.

"What on earth possessed you to agree to this?!"

Now Lucius chose to level with his wife, who knew about a quarter of the total activities of The True Voice organization.

"To be frank, I just did not think anything of it at the time. It was a laundry list, as you would know if you had bothered to read it ahead of time. Lupin was one of many small clauses that Robards put in there, and you and I know that we had no choice but to agree."

This had the desired effect of calming her down a bit.

"So this was not a long-term plan?" She couldn't decide which answer she wanted to hear.

"Not as such, no. I did not realize that Potter would become so vulnerable, and since I found that out, I've planned accordingly."

"Yet everything we've been told suggests that he's back to normal."

"Of course he is, on the surface. Just let him try raising a child for a bit, while knowing that we're out there, just waiting."

"You really think that this will weaken him?"

"It already has my dear, there will be infighting in their little Order any minute now."

"What on earth do you mean by that?"

"You will see, our co-opting of the Weasley boy is finally starting to bear fruit."

'You will see' meant that he would say no more, and Narcissa did not even try. She was suddenly very tired.

"What other of my rights did you sign away?"

He pulled the sheaf of paper from his desk and tossed it to her.

"A nice hour of light reading for you."

"I still don't like this, you should have told me." Narcissa didn't wait for a reply as she walked out, not closing the door.

Lucious counted down from 20 in his mind, to see if she came back, then flicked his wand at the door, closing it.

He snapped his fingers, and a man standing in the corner appeared, taking off the Disillusionment Charm that he had on.

"Good work Simmons, she gave no indication that she knew you were here. There will be a bonus in your next pay period." Fenner Simmons was a mid-level employee of Malfoy Enterprises, and had been for almost 20 years.

"Thank you sir."

"We had to be sure that she would not try anything rash. Rash from Potter I like, but not from my wife."

The men shared a laugh, neither of them noticing the tendrils of the Extendable Ear that was listening to everything they said.

End Chapter


	18. Monopoly

Friday, September 19, 1999

Gringotts Bank: Wills and Trusts Department

1:30 pm

Harry and Fleur were the only guests at this particular meeting, one to read the last Will and Testament of Andromeda Black Tonks. The reader was Andromeda's account manager, Andorpnog, a junior member of the account team, given that Andromeda was not what one could call 'rich' by any stretch. Wallging, Harry's account manager was there also, as our lad was involved. It was Gringotts' policy that all preferred, meaning rich and/or famous, customers were to be 'handled' at all times.

Fleur was there for moral support, as everyone else in his circle was hip deep in work at the moment, even Oliver and Katie were doing promotional work for Puddlemere right now.

After greetings and a pledge by Harry that he was who he said he was, Andorpnog began the reading:

_My name is Andromeda Tonks and this is my last word. I have no clue how I died, but once I get upstairs it would not surprise me to learn that my sister or her hapless husband had something to do with it. I was once proud to be a member of the Black family, but somewhere along the pike our clan lost it's way. _

_I leave all my worldly possessions to my grandson, Theodore Tonks Lupin. Custody of Theodore until his majority, I leave to his godfather Harry Potter. If Theodore should join me in death, everything will go to Harry._

_God be with them both._

_Andromeda Tonks_

It was not a long will, given that there was only one true beneficiary, and Andromeda was not terribly long winded in real life either. The young goblin looked at Harry.

"I trust that none of this is a surprise to you Mr. Potter?"

"No sir, I was told as much by Andromeda."

"Excellent, it's always disruptive when there are surprises. Her account held 3,450 galleons, which includes the money in her muggle bank account that was automatically transferred back to us. I understand that there is also a muggle life insurance policy, though given the nature of her death, the insurers will surely launch an investigation. You are the beneficiary of that policy Mr. Potter, given that Mrs. Tonks assumed that young Theodore would have to disappear from the muggle world, as most Wizards do."

"When will we know about all that?"

Wallging, a few levels senior to his co-worker, made his first foray into the discussion:

"We have someone keeping tabs on it, and I'll owl you when we know. The policy will net you and young Theodore an extra 10,000 galleons if and when it pays off." He didn't tell Harry that part of the service of Gringotts was to make sure that all those policies paid off, as Gringotts wanted the fees.

"Thanks Wallging, I appreciate that." 10,000 galleons wasn't chicken feed, but he would make sure Teddy got it all anyway.

"In the unlikely event that the policy is denied, the money left to Theodore, once allowed to sit for another 10 years, will easily pay seven years of Hogwarts fees." That might not even be necessary, as children of faculty members did not pay a Sickle other than for books and supplies. Harry was still chewing on that.

"I'm not worried about the money, I have more than enough for both of us. Is there anything else I need to do? I imagine I need to sign some things."

Andorpnog had the papers halfway out, he had been told harshly that this was to go smoothly, or else.

"Just sign where I've marked."

Harry did so, a total of 12 places, plus initialing four others. He looked at Wallging:

"Just leave the galleons in his vault until he gets his Hogwarts letter, and then we'll figure out what to do." This was something Bill had told him, they wanted to make sure that Teddy was Hogwarts bound before deciding what to do with any cash. Children that young rarely showed any magical ability and it would be at least a couple more years before Teddy showed any Metamorph ability, if he ever did.

"You don't want any for maintenance? You would be allowed to take a certain amount out each month for clothing, victuals, and other sundries."

"Nah, let it sit and rollover. We've got him sorted out for the time being."

Wednesday, by necessity, had been a shopping day for Teddy, as all of his earthly possessions had been burned up in the fire, aside from one change of clothes that Harry had kept at Grimmauld Place just in case.

Not just in case of a fire of course, but it did come in handy.

A full set of clothes, summer, winter, and in between were bought for the little fellow. Luna and Hermione kept him entertained long enough to try everything on, and it helped that a visit to a toy store was promised for the end of the day if he behaved.

Which he did, nothing like a long carrot to keep someone happy. The four of them went a little nuts in the toy store, as Hermione picked out a lot of things she remembered playing with when she was little, and Harry saw a lot of things Dudley had liked before he got bored with them as well. Luna, of course, had her own ideas about perfect toys, and not all of them were off the wall either. Between the three of them, they spent quite a lot of money, and not for the first time since graduation, Harry was very grateful that he was rich.

Teddy was easily satisfied anyway, and was perfectly content wherever he was as long as he had company, which he invariably did. Molly and Arthur had not put up an overt fight about the babysitting arrangements, and Molly had even paid a visit to WWW on Friday to say hello to the little guy. All had gone according to the hastily rigged up plan, and even Harry had to admit that he might have a flair for crisis management.

The papers were all signed and initialed, and it was time to leave. Or so they thought. Wallging dismissed the other goblin and pulled out a piece of paper.

"I was asked to give you this note, in the strictest of confidence. I am not excluding Fleur here, because I know you would trust her with your life. That said, I would prefer that this stay within Gringotts and not be released to any vigilante organizations that you two and Bill may or may not belong to."

Harry and Fleur looked at each other for a second, and then back at Wallging, shrugging. What else was there to do but say:

"Sure, whatever you want."

"Good." He handed it over, a small piece of parchment, carefully torn.

_Harry Potter,_

_I know you are at my sister's will reading, I would like to have a word with you afterward. Tell your goblin yes, and he will bring you to a conference room. Come, and you will not be unhappy that you did._

The note was unsigned, but barring a resurrection from the dead of Bellatrix Lestrange, it could only mean one person. Harry looked at his manager:

"Is this on the level?"

"So it would appear. The person in question is in the room, and portkeys do not work here, so it is not a kidnapping attempt. I would advise you not to touch her or accept any food or drink from her, but I doubt you really needed to be told as such."

"No, but I don't see what I have to gain by it either." He did see, but he did not want to seem overly eager.

Wallging, for reasons of his own, wanted this meeting to go down:

"Would you like me to be there?"

This caused Fleur to gasp, and Harry to flinch.

"I was under the impression that goblins did not like to become involved in our affairs?"

"We don't, but this is taking place in our fief, and between two noted families. But it is your choice."

Harry couldn't think of a reason why not, and it might mess with his foe's head.

"Well sure, though I bet you have surveillance in every room already, so it would not be any extra advantage for you."

Wallging just smiled, a rather sinister looking smile that Harry found fascinating for reasons that he couldn't understand and didn't want to try to. Harry turned to Fleur:

"What do you think?"

Fleur looked at Wallging.

"This woman, alone is she? Her husband or her son are not here?"

"Yes, she is alone. She got here 20 minutes ago, and once we read her note, we have had her under constant watch."

"I think you should go then Harry, at the very least it will be a chance to size up your adversary."

Harry thought about that for a second.

"You're right, and I want you to watch her every move while we talk. Not for any funny business, she wouldn't dare with Wallging in the room, but for psychological clues, tics, that sort of thing."

"And if she objects to my presence?" Fleur sure hoped not, she wouldn't miss this for the world and was very pleased that she had carved out time in her schedule to accompany him to the meeting(s).

"Then it will be one short meeting won't it?" He got up, shrunk the copies of the Will paperwork, pocketed them, and headed for the door. Wallging was there first, and led the two humans down one floor, they were on the third floor presently, and next to a solid metal door.

"This room is a magical dead zone, your wands will not work, nor will any wandless talent you may have be effective.." He did not wait for a reply from the surprised faces of Harry and Fleur, and knocked twice on the door. Without waiting for a 'come in', he opened the door and walked in, followed by Fleur and Harry, both curious if their visitor was who they thought she was.

Well if they thought it was Narcissa Black Malfoy, then they were correct.

She did not rise to greet them, but instead sat there in her dark green robes, eying them with no pleasure……..but no hostility either.

Wallging had the floor:

"I believe you are all familiar with each other."

Now Narcissa stood up.

"Potter, Weasley." She had never spoken to Fleur, but knew her on sight. There was no offer to shake hands proffered from either side of the table.

"Narcissa."

"Narcissa."

Said in a remarkable feat of unison, considering that Harry and Fleur had not practiced it.

"I take it you want a witness to this." Said to Harry.

"Well being a nutter and all, like your husband's paper says I am, I felt it wise to have someone older and wiser about to keep me from saying or doing something stupid." Not really aping Lucius this time, though he did like doing it.

Fleur was a week less than three years older than Harry, but did not allow her inner smile to show. Her Veela powers were useless in this room, other than against Harry, and his eyesight was so bad that it took longer on him than most other men.

"Very well. Sit down, please."

That please did not sound at all insincere, just a hair forced, and her opponents did as asked.

"One can assume that you now have custody of my grand-nephew."

"A safe assumption, yes."

"I would like to see him."

Harry had known that an approach from one of the three Malfoys about Teddy was coming, but he had not figured on it being so quick, or by the Malfoy that he knew the least.

"Why would I allow that?"

"Because he is my blood, and because I did not want my sister to die."

"So you say."

"I had nothing to do with her death, and I would have prevented it if I had known." Said with the most emotion that Harry had ever heard from this woman.

"Probably the reason that you weren't told ahead of time, if one believes your story." And he did, Harry knew that for Andromeda Tonks to have survived the Pius Thicknesse Ministry reign, she would have had some kind of protection from her sisters.

Narcissa was thinking the same thing:

"If I had wanted Andromeda dead, it would have happened a long time ago Potter."

"That still doesn't tell me why I should allow you to see Teddy. Did you ever lay eyes on Nymphadora?"

"No, and I am sorry for that." She didn't sound sorry, but didn't sound arrogant either. Instead she sounded rather tired.

Harry, after yet another marathon Quidditch practice and a late bedtime while talking with Hermione, was not in the mood to draw this out any longer.

"What are you offering?"

"Who says I am offering anything?"

"Because you're a lot of things, and stupid is not one of them. If you people have me pegged half as well as you claim to, then you know that I hold no love, respect, or tolerance for your family. And as such, I'm not inclined to do you any favors, especially after two issues of your rag. Now state your offer, or Fleur and I will exit stage left and owl your hubby and your brat that you wanted to meet us." His voice rose in volume slightly as he went on, and the last sentence was almost a shout.

"Calm down Potter."

He surprised her by doing so.

"Yes Mrs. Malfoy, whatever you say. Now I believe you were about to offer me something?"

Now he sounded like Lucius, and no one in the room was more aware of that than the absent one's bride. But she chose to ignore it, feeling that antagonizing Harry would do her little good in the long run.

"I am willing to offer information, in exchange for a relationship with my grand-nephew."

"A relationship on the sly?"

"For now, yes, it cannot be any other way. But in time it can become public."

Harry pondered that for a moment, and right now wanted more than anything to be able to put up a Silencing Bubble so that he could talk with Fleur for a minute.

But that was not an option here.

Fleur had her own point to make.

"You would turn on your son to get to know your nephew? That strains credulity."

The response was quick and vehement.

"I am not turning on my son."

"Fleur has a point though, Draco will not like you giving me the time of day, let alone any information on his and his daddy's activities."

"I can handle my son."

Harry could believe that in theory, but wanted to hear about how she would put it into practice:

"How? Tell us that now, or the rest of this conversation is rather pointless."

Narcissa had come into this meeting somewhat believing the crap her family had been spewing about Harry, somewhat. But one thing she had believed was that he would be so desperate for information that he take any offer that she gave.

Not so apparently, and a not used to thinking on the fly Mrs. Malfoy made a split second decision.

"According to the family trust agreements, Draco does not get his initial money until he is 21 years old. Until then he is dependant on his father and I for his Galleons. Whomever controls those Galleons, has influence over my son."

"And you are in a position to control those Galleons? How?"

"My husband can die at any time Potter. Or he can just disappear."

Now this was where the train left the tracks as far as Harry was concerned, she was writing checks that her wand and brain could not and would not cash. But he played along for the moment:

"That's cold Narcissa, even colder than your husband having your sister murdered in cold blood. Murdered just so that I would have a child to raise."

"Yes."

"A bit over an over reaction for killing a relative that you wanted nothing to do with."

"She was off limits, and he knew it. Besides, he was prepared to kill me as well." She then gave Harry his nugget of information, relaying to him the entirety of the Lucius/Fenner Simmons dialogue, and how she came about the information.

"So you see, I paid you for the means to spy on my husband." Meaning the Extendable Ear, obtained through a WWW catalog.

"I don't have any partnership in the shop." He said this automatically, as it came up a lot.

Still, Harry couldn't help but be impressed with the story. If true it could be a turning point in the coming conflict. If false……well it was just flat out good fiction, and he could appreciate that.

"Naturally you can prove this." His tone suggested that she couldn't.

"I want an hour with my grand-nephew, in exchange I will give a pensieve memory of that encounter."

This was not a bad deal, or so Harry thought, but…….

"Please excuse us for a moment. Fleur." Harry was not so proud that he couldn't admit that he wanted his friend's counsel.

They walked to the corner of the room and faced away from Narcissa and a bemused Wallging.

"Do I do this? It commits her to helping us, and gives us plenty of blackmail material if she balks in the future." He couldn't believe how blasé he was about blackmailing someone, even Narcissa, but there it was.

"I agree Harry, but I have to wonder at this sudden desire of hers to see long lost family. What is the cause?"

"You're right of course, but doing this really costs us nothing in the short-term or long-term."

"Do you really want Teddy to have a relationship with that woman though?"

"He has so many aunts and uncles now, one more wouldn't hurt. And there might be a real human being under all that frost."

"That is something Dumbledore would say, though he would phrase it differently." She was smiling though.

"I'm not at all sure how to take that Fleur. Are we agreed?" The Dumbledore comparison rocked him a little though, as he saw her nodding her head.

"Yes, do the deal, this time."

They turned back to Narcissa and re-took their seats. Harry took a moment to come up with his terms.

"All right, here's what I'll accept: One hour with you, Teddy, myself, and at least two other people of my choosing. You will visit in my Hogwarts office, without your wand and after a thorough search for portkeys or any other possible tricks up your sleeve. In exchange you will give me the pensieve memory you spoke about, and you will also tell me, right now, who your husband has following me. And when they started doing so."

This was not a bad deal really, and Naricssa was not fool enough to scoff at it.

"Pansy and Anson Parkinson have been following you since your Hogwarts graduation, with Anson doing so during Hogsmeade visits during your final year at Hogwarts. Satisfied?" A bit of challenge in her voice, and the first hint of a smile.

Oh my yes, both Harry and Fleur were thinking. They had drugged this very information out of Anson a couple of weeks previous, and Harry had thrown it out there as a test. One that was passed with the proverbial flying colors. The nice thing was, both of them acted like this was news to them, the identities. Harry pretended to ponder for a second.

"Okay, present yourself at Bill Weasley's office on Monday afternoon at 4:00 pm, you and I will take the floo to my office from there. You will have until 5:00 pm to visit with Teddy. I should tell you that while he loves all kinds of food and toys, you are not yet trusted enough to bring him any of either."

"I have some photographs of his grandmother I could show him, from when she was a child." She took a tiny amount of encouragement from the 'yet' part of Harry's last sentence.

Harry thought that if she was faking, she was a far better actress than he had ever given her credit for.

"That would be nice. Is there anything else?" He really hoped not.

"No, I will see you on Monday." Without another word or gesture, she got up and left the room.

Harry turned toward Wallging:

"What do you think?"

"I think you have nothing to lose here, and potentially a lot to gain. Even if it were to get out to the public, she would take the brunt of the criticism, while you would just look a little naïve and perhaps sentimental. Even that would be not so bad for you, given the manner in which you were raised, you are bound to be that way toward family reuniting."

"I'm not really, but I agree that people would see it that way."

"Interesting, if you like I can have financial tabs kept on your Dursley relatives."

Harry really didn't know what to say here, Wallging was clearly a politically thinking goblin, and Harry was wary of getting too deeply in the being's debt. It seemed to him that the goblin had been waiting to spring this one him at some point.

"I'll think about that, but please don't do anything right now."

In fact Wallging already had a Dursley file in his office, but he wanted his client to flat out ask for it before he would share.

"As you wish. If you have no further need for me, I have work that needs attending to."

"Thanks Wallging, I appreciate the interest you've taken in my affairs."

"You're welcome Harry, you are quite the interesting young man."

He too left, and Harry and Fleur were by themselves. He looked like he was about to say something, but Fleur quickly shook her head and motioned for the door.

Harry then remembered that everything he and she said was likely to be recorded in some manner. He nodded, and they left, going to her office

"What are the others going to say about this deal?"

"I do not know, but I have the feeling that we will soon find out."

Not that night though, as it was a special day in more ways than one:

Hermione Jean Granger had turned 20 years old.

The two of them went out to eat at least once a week now, so Harry chose to do something a bit different.

He cooked and served the meal, albeit in candlelight in the rarely used Grimmauld Place formal dining room. Kreacher had been given the night off and told not to venture out, while Neville was on a date with an Auror classmate that he was not willing to name quite yet. He had relayed the gist of the will reading, but not the Narcissa part of it, he did not want political intrigue to intrude on their night. Teddy had been fed and watered, and was fast asleep in his room, with an Alarm Charm permanently stuck to his door, just to make sure he did not go wandering around without anyone knowing about it.

So instead of political talk, Harry made Hermione tell him stories from her childhood, humorous ones. For someone who had left no long-term friendships back in the muggle world, she had a lot of funny school stories. She cajoled him into telling some too, though in none of them was he the star, and they spent a long two hour meal that way. Harry, though a bit out of practice, was still not a half bad cook, and the angel hair with alfredo sauce and chicken tasted very good. They had a nice merlot to drink, as Harry's wine tasting teacher had recommended the bottle personally.

"You should come with me next Wednesday." To his wine tasting class.

Hermione was a bit surprised by this, such an invitation had never been offered before.

"I've always thought that you wanted this to your own thing, you own little hobby?" Indeed he had only told his friends about it after he had gone to his first class.

"Well that's how it started, sure, but I would love for you to come if you want to."

She made a snap decision.

"No Harry, I think you should keep this as your activity, just for you. And you can teach me when you get home." She smiled, hoping that he would approve. Hermione had long thought that Harry needed a hobby of some sort, to keep his mind off his various troubles and dramas……and while wine tasting was not something she would have remotely guessed beforehand, it did seem to be working for him. He invariably came home relaxed after the classes, and it wasn't the equivalent of two glasses of wine that did it either.

"Yeah, you're probably right. The only other person in our circle who likes win as much as I do is Fleur, and I think she would distract the instructor." Who was a 55 year old retired wine company rep.

Dessert was homemade oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies that Harry had made as soon as he got home from the bank. He had cooked the meal while they chatted, and that's how he cleaned up too. She had tried to help with the cleaning, Hermione being rather ineffectual in the area of cooking, but Harry would have none of it.

"I didn't have to clean up on my birthday, you shouldn't either."

Even pointing out that Kreacher had cleaned everything up did no good, so Hermione just leaned against the counter while he washed everything. After he was done, he reached into a cupboard and pulled out a small wrapped box.

"This is for you, Happy Birthday."

There had been no cake, Hermione had drawn the line there, especially with alfredo sauce in the meal, so Harry had sung Happy Birthday to her as he put the plates on the table.

Thus, the timing caught her a bit by surprise, though at no point did she think he would take her 'you don't have to get me anything' statement the week before seriously.

"Thank you." She gave him a quick kiss as she opened it up.

"Oh wow, this is lovely."

It was a Celtic necklace called a cladagh, and looked nothing like the slim pickings in Hermione's barely existent jewelry box. It was classy looking without being outlandishly expensive and showy, and Hermione loved it on first sight.

Harry was pleased that she liked it, and helped put it on her. He did it as part of a hug, and while he fixed the clasp together, she squeezed him tightly.

"So you like it?" Wanting the validation.

"Of course, you have lovely taste." She loved the idea of poor Harry trolling through a jewelry store, and half expected to hear that Luna had picked it out for him.

"No, Luna didn't pick it out, or Katie or Fleur." His three closest female platonic friends.

"Ha ha, you're getting good at reading my mind you know."

"It's pretty complex in there, yes. But there's a nice jewelry store two doors down from my driving school. I stopped in after my lesson last week, and had this within five minutes of walking in the door. It just kind of called to me." He was very pleased to have her think that he had great taste.

"I love it." More thank you kisses.

"What did your parents get you?"

"Gift certificates for books, as always. They never know what to get me, so it's the safe option for them." Hermione had gone to lunch that day with her parents.

"How about we go on Tuesday to spend them?" It was Harry's free evening, no wine or driving lessons.

"I was thinking Monday, since you'll be busy all weekend." She couldn't wait to go to the bookstore, 50 pounds could get some nice quality or quantity of books.

"Yeah, well about that. I've got something scheduled at Hogwarts in the afternoon."

"A meeting at Hogwarts? With who?" Surely he would have mentioned it by now.

"Narcissa Malfoy."

It was a good thing that Hermione was not drying the plates as she wanted, because she would have dropped any that she'd have been holding.

"Come again?"

"There was a meeting after the will reading." He gave Hermione a five minute trip down memory lane.

"Well that was interesting, I now wish I had been there for it."

Harry was not so sure about that, every Malfoy seemed to have a visceral reaction to Hermione for some reason……the reason being that she was muggleborn, and as inclusive as The Order pretended to be, she was the only muggleborn in it. He wondered if Narcissa would have been so accommodating if Hermione had been there instead of Fleur.

He didn't say this though.

"It was a fascinating few minutes, I'll say that much. My first actual words with the woman. Fleur said later that she noticed a lot of the same mannerisms in Narcissa that Tonks had."

"What did Bill say to all of this?"

"Beats me, Fleur said she would fill him in. I had to get ready for your dinner."

That touched Hermione not a little bit, she would have assumed that Harry would lock himself away with Bill and Fleur and strategize about what to do with this newfound information. But he had instead gone shopping for her dinner, and into the kitchen to make cookies, feeling that the situation would keep for another night. She wanted to say something in gratitude, but decided that it was best left alone, she greatly liked it when Harry's gestures were of the natural variety. Instead she went with:

"I'm sure we'll hear all about it on Sunday after the game."

"I can only imagine." He finished the last dish, and they went back up to Harry's……well, THEIR room now.

To play Monopoly.

Hermione had played the game a lot with her parents when she was a child, and upon seeing the game in the toy store on Wednesday, had promptly put it in the cart. This was their first play of it, and she promptly walloped him in the first game. As they were setting up for the next one, she commented:

"Aren't we supposed to be getting drunk right now? Or at the very least shagging in every room?" And there were a lot of rooms in Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry burst out laughing at the last part, but didn't comment on it.

"I only like wine, not liquor or lager, and it takes a long time to get drunk with wine." Harry had been drunk once, during his last year at Hogwarts, in a vain effort to cure his sleeping problems. It hadn't helped him sleep, but the hangover the next day had cured him of wanting to be drunk anytime soon.

"So cultured you are, the boys I was in class with back in muggle times are all probably swigging it down as quickly as they can right now…….well, most of them."

"It's all about taste for me, both figuratively and literally. Your roll, winner goes first."

"And the shagging part?" She rolled, right onto a railroad, good times.

"I don't want to rush you."

"Who says it would be rushing me?" An amused smile on her face, a bit flirtatious.

"My gentlemanly sense of honor, that's who. But if the lady in question is ready………" The subject was getting little Harry ready in a hurry.

"Let's say that she is…….."

"Well I'm a male, of course I'm ready. But only when you are, period." It was really hard to be a gentleman right now, but Harry was still hanging on with a few fingers.

"You have a lot to do tomorrow, I wouldn't want to tire you out." Said in a tone of voice that quite contradicted what her words technically meant.

"I'll manage somehow, but thank you for thinking of me." He was now clearing off the Monopoly board, suddenly there was something else that he wanted to do.

"I love you."

"I love you too, very much."

"I'll finish putting the game away, you go check on Teddy." She didn't wait for him to respond, and was already putting away the cash.

"Good idea, I knew you were the brains of this operation. Wouldn't want him waking up at an inopportune time would we?"

"No we wouldn't, get going." She shooed him out of the room.

"Yes dear." Both of them laughing, as Harry walked next door. He was as quiet as possible and found his godson to be sleeping pretty soundly. Harry looked around the room, which due to Wednesday looked just like a little boy's room in any house in the country, and marveled at the changes that life was bringing him.

Saturday, September 20, 1999

Hogwarts Quiddtich Pitch

10:00 am

Quidditch tryouts would be an all day affair, with Ravenclaw going first. They would have two hours to select their team, and Harry had brought along a special guest. He looked at the assembled players, both holdovers and newcomers.

"Now I know that there might be some concern about my potential bias, being a Gryffindor alum who helped win the Quidditch Cup just this past year. And for all we know you might be right…….so just in case, I asked my friend and Puddlemere United teammate Roger Davies to help out for a couple of hours. Roger is a former Ravenclaw Captain and Head Boy of the Class of 1995, I'm sure you'll all benefit from his knowledge. I'll be here too, but in cases where Roger and I disagree, his views will prevail. Any questions?"

Nope, no questions, and the Ravenclaw students could all see their Head of House, Flitwick, behind Harry nodding approvingly. The House Heads had all thought it a splendid idea for Harry to bring back prominent alums to help with Quidditch tryouts, and it was a lucky thing that Puddlemere had all four Houses on their roster.

Ravenclaw was the only squad to pick before lunch, but they had but two slots open for starting positions, and both wound up being filled by reserves. Enough interest was there for a full reserve team though, and Harry was looking forward to seeing some full scale scrimmages. He wasn't to be there during every practice, but he had told the four Captains that he would make an effort to be at least one practice per House per week.

Slytherin was next, after lunch, but it was only a show readiness practice. Their squad had been picked, as usual, along lines of influence, not necessarily talent. That sort of approach worked a lot better when Snape was around to bring pressure to bear for them, but Slughorn cared relatively little about House Cups and Quidditch Cups, and usually could not be bothered to do likewise, indeed he was not even at the tryout/practice. But old habits die hard, and the Slytherin practice lasted barely an hour. Brian Porter, the third starting Chaser next to Roger Davies and Katie Bell, was Harry's Slytherin alum on Puddlemere. He gave some tips to Slytherin Captain Martin Shaftley, and the younger man listened politely to the 30 year old Quidditch veteran, but it was hard to say if he took the advice seriously.

Hufflepuff and Gryffindor went in turn, with Sprout and Keenan also turning up to watch. Gryffindor was slotted last because they had the most players to replace, a tryout tradition that Harry continued. In addition to Harry, Ron, and Ginny, both Beaters had graduated, necessitating a rebuilding year for Captain Natalie McDonald, one of two holdovers. Oliver was the Puddlemere rep for the Gryffindor squad, Harry wanting to keep it at one for the sake of appearances. It took the full two hours, but a full squad was selected, along with three reserves. Natalie, somewhat cheekily, asked if Harry might be willing to drink some Polyjuice if the team really needed him.

"Please don't tempt me Natalie, I'm begging you." He filed it away for future thought though.

It was a long day, and Harry looked so tired at the end of it that Hermione insisted that the two of them eat dinner at Hogwarts, followed by nothing more than relaxation in her now little used living quarters. Again, no political intrigue, a recent record two nights in a row for that. They got another full game of Monopoly in, as well as some afterward activity. But it was early to bed, a big game was on the schedule the following day.

Sunday, September 21, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

Puddlemere United, buoyed by the best Beater performances they had gotten all season, put a slight whupping on the Appleby Arrows, 290-50. Katie Bell entered the top five in the BQL with her 11 goals, and Harry got Golden Snitch numero six out of six, which by definition led the league. The bye week was upon them, and given their 4-2 record, Clive Reynolds was generous in his praise and his time off. They were due back on Thursday, and would have Saturday and Sunday both off from practice as well. A welcome rest, and Harry was looking forward to spending time with Teddy and getting his driver's license on Thursday. The big car shopping day was scheduled for Saturday.

But first there was an Order meeting to have.

Our players assembled in the living room of 12, which was Harry's new, for lack of something more interesting, nickname for his house. As he explained to Neville at breakfast on Sunday:

"Think of all the effort we'll be saving, less strain on our vocal cords."

Neville just stood there shaking his head, as Hermione laughed.

"You know, your sense of humor is a bit of a high wire act sometimes."

"Yeah, so I've been told."

Bill started the meeting, he had not seen or talked to Harry since the Narcissa meeting.

"So Harry, why don't you tell us all about what happened Friday." It was hard to tell whether he sounded mad or not, but at least he couldn't say that he was uninformed about it all.

Harry then told the assembled group about his deal with Narcissa, ending with:

"I don't see what the harm is really, I'll have my wand on her the entire time." In deference to Wallging, he had left out the details of Wallging's and Gringott's direct involvement in the meeting, or even where said meeting had taken place.

If he was expecting an argument……..well he was only a little correct. Flitwick had a question:

"There is nothing in your office that would give her any insight into what we are doing here?"

"There's nothing in my office period, I haven't so much as put a piece of paper in it. I use it for the floo and nothing more." Hooch had been different, but she didn't have a significant other on the staff, whose office she could use to hang out in.

"In that case, I agree with Harry, there seems to be no downside politically, and a lot of upside." He and McGonagall both independently agreed not to fight because it was Narcissa going into Hogwarts. If it had been Lucius or Draco it would have been different.

Molly did have something to say as well.

"What about the effect on Teddy? Will he get too attached to her if this goes on long enough?" Molly was not wild about the idea of Teddy being used for political purposes.

Though Harry usually bridled at Molly and Arthur questioning him about much of anything these days, he supposed he couldn't blame her here.

"Fair point, but it works both ways now doesn't it? He might get attached to her, but she will to him too. If it ever looks perfunctory, like it's being staged for some reason, I'll end the visits……and I'll know, because I'll be there for every one of them."

Ginny had a sort of follow up:

"How far will you try to take this with her?"

"As far as she'll let me. I'll even lay off Draco if she does everything else we want her to."

"And if this is a scam of some kind?"

"Then I make it public, and call her out for a formal duel. She's not dumb enough to fight me herself, so either Lucius or Draco will act in her stead. And one problem will be taken care of, one way or the other. Now I should say that that's not what I want to happen. I want her to be on the level and for Teddy to have a blood family member that he can have a relationship with…..but I'll be prepared either way." Harry made every effort to sound calm and heartfelt when he said this, and it did seem to work.

Ginny had one last question for him, she hadn't so much as shot him a dirty look ever since he took in Teddy, it seemed to have been the event that dissipated her anger with Harry.

"Are you going to ask her about Percy? I think we need to settle his thing soon and I have to think that she would know about him." General murmuring of agreement there, and Harry couldn't blame them.

"For the visit after this one. If she delivers the goods with the pensieve memory this time, then I'll ask her about that for next time. She'll have to give me something for every visit that she wants, and I agree with you that Percy needs to be sorted out one way or another."

Molly, and by definition Arthur, may not have been totally pleased about the Narcissa deal, but they were very happy that there seemed to be a détente between Harry and Ginny.

The rest of the meeting dealt with Hogsmeade, the first visit was to be in two weeks. Auror Command was expected to handle security, but it was agreed that a little unofficial security would not be such a bad idea.

After things broke up into chatting and such, Bill took Harry aside. He pulled a sheaf of paper from his pocket.

"I questioned Parkinson Friday night about Narcissa, here's what he said. I put him under Veritaserum again and got quite a bit. Call it Narcissa: A History."

Harry looked through the papers, ten pages of dialogue in all. Anson Parkinson had been in and out of Malfoy Manor all his life, his mother and Narcissa were quite close. So the man knew quite a lot about Teddy's Great Aunt, and fortunately Bill had known what questions to ask.

"I also told him to ask his mother about Narcissa, it won't do you any good for tomorrow, but if this becomes a regular thing it should bear some fruit."

"Thanks Bill, I'm glad you thought about that." It had been Harry's idea, though, to ask Parkinson about Narcissa, done through Fleur.

"Who are you going to have there tomorrow? I've got a meeting then, so it can't be me."

"I was thinking Oliver and Katie should be good enough. Neither of them have any history with her, nor she with them, and I know they're both free." Harry didn't want Hermione anywhere near Narcissa on this visit, or even the next one…….one reason that he had scheduled it when he knew that she had a class to teach.

"They said yes already?"

"Yeah, I talked to them about it this morning."

"It will be interesting whatever happens. I can't believe we have a shot at a mole right in their operation."

"I know mate, let's just hope that it doesn't blow up in our faces." They shared a chuckle, one with just a little bit of tension

Only 23 hours to go.

End Chapter


	19. It's Come to This

Author's Note: Harry goes car shopping at some point, and please note the dates in the story, so there are no hybrids on the market back then and the global energy crisis was a tad more muted than it is now, nine years later.

Monday, September 22, 1999

5:00 pm

Office of the Flying Instructor, Hogwarts

"Thank you for this Potter." Narcissa sounded actually a little sincere, at least to the ears of the Puddlemere Three.

"I'm glad that it went well." Harry matched her politeness back.

And it had gone well, at least on the surface anyway. Narcissa had gotten to Bill's office a bit early, not wanting the pensieve time to take away from her hour with Teddy. So Harry, Bill, and Fleur had watched the memory…….which was really just a visual of her listening at the door, though the Extendable Ear gave great audio. The rest of the Lucius/Simmons conversation went as follows:

"Yes sir, I was not relishing the thought of killing Mrs. Malfoy."

"Neither was I, enough Black blood has been spilled for one month, but we must do what is necessary. I want you to keep up the surveillance on her, make sure that she does not go running off to Potter or Bill Weasley in a fit of misplaced family loyalty."

No one was surprised that Lucius knew his wife so well, but it was still a bit of a stunner considering where they were at the moment.

"Sir…….." Simmons sounded a bit hesitant, as if he was unsure whether to say anything.

"Yes Fenner?"

"She wouldn't really turn on us, would she?" Fenner Simmons had dealt with Narcissa enough over the years that he just couldn't fathom the idea.

"I agree that it is highly unlikely, but chances cannot be taken. You have my permission to deal with her as you see fit, if you catch her parlaying with our enemies."

"Yes sir." Simmons still did look what one could call 'gleeful' at the prospect.

"Good. Now on to business."

The rest of the conversation ran to more mundane matters of a purely business nature, but some insight was gained into the workings of Malfoy Enterprises. Harry and Bill both agreed that her end of the deal had been satisfied, and that the visit could start. Harry took Narcissa's wand and promised that she would come to no harm that was unprovoked……..but took it as a matter of good faith that she handed it over without kicking up a fuss.

While Narcissa was flooing to Hogwarts, where Oliver, Katie, and Teddy were waiting for her, Bill had one question for Harry.

"How sure are we that this wasn't a performance by Lucius and this Simmons person? I mean we didn't actually see anything, we just have her dubious word that they weren't acting."

"I'm not at all, but we'll know soon enough. Something tells me that it's not a trap though, it would just be too obvious wouldn't it? Sending her in like that?"

"You think she'd accept a drink from you?" With Veritaserum, was the inference.

"One that's loaded up? No, she's not that dumb. Look, I'd better get over there, see you at dinner." Bill and Fleur were to join the 12 denizens for dinner after Narcissa's visit was concluded.

Harry took the floo over, and found the three adults standing very stiffly in front of one another. Teddy was sitting on the floor, coloring with his crayons and picture book, right where Harry had left him 10 minutes earlier with his teammates. He took a deep breath, and walked over to his godson.

"Teddy, come here."

The little lad hoisted himself up and waddled over to Harry, who took him by the hand over to the other three.

"Teddy, this is your Aunt Cissy. She is Gramma's sister." He figured that Cissy would be easier for him to pronounce, given that Teddy still couldn't quite do Neville and Hermione, or rather Nevie and Hermie.

"Hi." He wasn't sure whether to smile or not, as all his friends looked so tense.

"Hello Teddy." She reached out her hand, and was surprised when he shook it.

"Hi." He was smiling tentatively, and it was rewarded when she did too.

A genuine smile, the first Harry had ever seen on her. He still had his wand out, as did Oliver and Katie, but it was becoming more and more apparent that they wouldn't be needed this day.

They spent the next hour slowly eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, provided beforehand by Kreacher, and Narcissa showing Teddy pictures of Andromedea, herself, and Bellatrix from when they were girls. Harry was surprised to notice that Bellatrix in particular was actually quite cute when she wasn't looking insane or bloodthirsty. Narcissa didn't mention Lucius or Draco, anything involving any wars. It was clear that she was not a natural around children, she herself only had the one, but Harry thought that she pulled it off with something resembling aplomb. It was still very tense, at least by the Puddlemere contingent, but nothing happened.

Back to present:

Katie took Teddy by the hand.

"Come on buddy, let's go see Aunt Hermie." She was laughing as she said it, she dug that name, and Teddy obediently went along with her.

Harry and Oliver were now looking at their guest, who showed no reaction to Aunt Hermie, though surely she could have guessed whom that was.

"I am not trying to trick you, but I suppose you don't believe me."

That was stating the obvious as far as Harry was concerned.

"Would you believe me, if I offered to turn?"

"No, I suppose not." In her own mind though, she was not turning, per se. Rather she had been turned on first, by the seemingly pointless murder of her sister.

"Then don't ask it of me. But this was a good first step, I have nothing to complain about, right Oliver?"

"Nothing at all, Teddy seemed very happy." Oliver left out that Teddy was almost always happy, he didn't want to ruin the mood.

"That's good to hear. When can we do this again?"

"Is Monday a good day for you? I mean in general, I have nothing going on after practice on those days, as the Parkinson gits have undoubtedly told you." A shot, though a minor one.

"Mondays are fine……Harry." Equal to the task was she.

"Excellent. Let's say, for a moment, that I might need to change plans. Where and how would I contact you?"

She thought about that for a full minute.

"Use The Daily Prophet, in the classifieds section. Say that you have a zander for sale."

"What's a zander?" Oliver said it, but both were thinking it.

"It has no meaning of course, that's how I will know it's you." A bit of the old Narcissa appeared here, or perhaps the new one was fading back to normal.

But Harry took her point:

"Fair enough, if you see that in there, know that the visit has been postponed for a week. I don't anticipate that happening, but better to safe than sorry."

"I agree. Now what information will you want from me?"

"I'll let you know Monday."

She definitely didn't like this, but had no choice…….with one caveat.

"Alright, but I want your word on something."

"I'm listening." This ought to be good.

"You heard that Lucius' lackey is tasked with making sure that I don't turn to you?"

"I did."

"If he gets too close, or interrupts one of these visits, I expect you to take care of him."

Harry didn't see anything wrong with that, a look to Oliver said that his older friend was thinking along the same lines.

"Fair enough, though I won't kill anyone not trying to kill me. But if he tries to harm you, and I can do anything to stop it, I will."

"Good. Now I had better go home. I will see you next Monday." She turned to go.

"One question for you before you leave."

"Yes?"

"Where do Lucius and Draco think you are right now?" He could see Oliver perking up as well, his friend was curious about that too.

"In Gringott's, discussing some of our matters with our manager there. That's where Simmons, or whomever is my shadow today, is waiting." At least she hoped that they bought that.

She did not shake hands, and took the floo out, without Harry asking anything else.

"So Harry? Did you get what you wanted here?"

"It was a good first step."

"Teddy seemed to like her."

"Eh, I haven't seen anyone that he doesn't like, he's no barometer. Remember, he worships Kreacher."

Cue the snickering from both, though Harry was internally very grateful that Teddy and Kreacher seemed to be friends. In all he felt lucky that his godson was so happy and agreeable, rather than a Dudley like hellion.

"C'mon, let's go collect the others and get some dinner."

"I could use some too Harry, I have so much energy right now."

"A day without practice, I don't know how we survived."

"Tomorrow will be even worse, I cannot handle sleeping in."

The two of them rounded up the others, and onward to 12 for a Kreacher feast. Harry was worried a little bit about how Kreacher might react if he heard Teddy talking about 'Aunt Cissy', but Teddy never mentioned her at all, let alone while the little elf was nearby. Teddy was getting used to so many people that one more or less wasn't fazing him one bit, just like Harry had posited.

As they were getting ready for bed that night, Hermione queried her man:

"What's your verdict on the day?"

"I'm afraid Hermione."

That was not what she was expecting to hear.

"Afraid of what?"

"That I'm being played here, with Teddy as part of the game. This is what that troll Lucius wanted when he put him here. He wanted me to wonder."

"Are you thinking that the direct approach is warranted here? A Stupefy to the back and some Veritaserum would solve a lot of problems."

"I know, and that worries me too. But if we do it, we'll have to do it to Percy too."

"I wonder if we should have done it to Percy that first night. I didn't say anything because no Weasley, save Bill and Fleur, wanted to hear anything from me………but Percy needs to be sorted out, he's an open wound that's starting to fester."

"I agree, we'll do it next Monday night, after I talk to Narcissa again. I think she'll agree to talk voluntarily, and if not…….then your idea will carry the day."

"What will Bill say?"

"He'll do what I want here, since Teddy is involved."

"But Percy is involved too."

"I know, he's the elephant in the room. But only one more week to go and it will be different. We've waited this long, it can wait seven more days."

And it would, though it would be a long week for all involved.

Saturday, September 27, 1999

Elias Motors, London

10:00 am

It was a tale of three women and Harry, as he was accompanied on his car shopping by Hermione, Fleur, and Luna. Luna had been promised on the day of the fire, and Harry had wanted Fleur along for other reasons, as he explained to Hermione at breakfast:

"Hey, she'll distract the salesman guy, if it's a guy, and I'll get a better price." He looked so pleased with the idea too.

Hermione couldn't decide whether to laugh or smack him, and chose to do both:

Whap!

Right on the side of the head, though in a jokey way and not too hard.

"Hey, I'll take a cuff on the head to save a couple hundred pounds."

"How about two?" She pretended to draw her arm back.

"That's pushing it, save it for tomorrow when I have all afternoon free……I'm so giddy." He did look giddy, having most of the week off from work had refreshed him. He reflected that Soren Bender, whose job he was contemplating snatching, did not have such an easy work schedule.

"You look it too, but don't look too excited, they'll spot you for a sucker, or something like that."

Hermione, Harry, and the parents Granger had gone to dinner together Tuesday night, both to buy Hermione's books and to allow Harry to pick their brains about car shopping and what to get. He had gotten some good tips too, Mrs. Granger had gotten a new car just before the Hogwarts graduation, so their advice was pretty current.

The salesman, it was a man, approached the group.

"Hi there, I'm Trevor Sanders." He reached out his hand, eyes searching for the person whom he might be dealing with.

"Harry Potter, nice to meet you. Luna, Fleur, and Hermione are my peanut gallery and wiser minds." He pointed them out in turn.

"Good to have advice in something like this." Sanders was nodding as if this was commonplace.

"It helps that they're all a lot smarter than I am."

And indeed they were, the Valedictorians of Hogwarts Classes of 1998 and 1999 in Hermione and Luna, and Beauxbaton class of 1995 in Fleur. It was the right thing to say, and he got three appreciative looks.

"What are you looking for?"

"Something safe and reliable, and big I guess, I'll probably have a lot of people riding in it."

"So something along the lines of an SUV?" Sanders liked this idea, SUV's were on the expensive side.

"That would probably be best, but I'd like to look at several options."

"Do you have a price range you're looking to operate in?"

Harry then named a figure, one that was lower than he was willing to go. But Hermione's father had advised him not to let on that he was rich…….not that you could tell by looking at any of them, they all looked like university students.

"If you don't mind me saying, you look a little young to be paying that much, do you have a co-signer?" Sanders himself was 33 years old, and Harry did look younger than his years.

"No, I won't be financing this." Which just gave away the rich game, but Harry didn't see a way out of it.

But Sanders looked very pleased, he loved trust fund kids, especially ones with a good looking entourage. They tended to wear out their cars more quickly, or get tired of them, which brought them back more often.

"Okay then, let's start over here shall we?"

He led them right to the SUV's.

"So what kind of car do you drive now?" He had not seen them enter the dealership.

"I don't actually, I've been in boarding school for the last few years, no need for one there. I use taxis and the Underground to get around for the most part." He left out that he had just gotten his license two days earlier, not that it would have mattered.

"Quite right. Will there be any small children in the car, a niece or nephew or the like." He couldn't imagine that this youngster would have a child already.

"Actually yes, my godson will be in it a lot, he's a few months shy of two years old."

"An SUV would be a good idea then, loads of safety in a car that's big." And an expensive option, good for a nice commission, always in the forefront of the man's mind.

Harry had also gotten some auto advice from his driving instructor, and had a small piece of paper in his pocket with FAQ's on it. He took it out and started in with them. They were nothing out of the ordinary, and Sanders answered them all with a practiced professionalism that Harry found reassuring. Said driving instructor had also recommended the dealership they were at, the owner was a friend and was known to give good deals.

They looked over several models, and the one Harry liked best as far as looks went was a black Range Rover. He peered in the window.

"Ah yes, one of the best of it's kind, and made here in Britain I might add, though BMW in Germany does own the company. Let me get the keys and you can hop in." He said it sort of in the form of a question.

"Please do."

Sanders walked briskly back to the office, while Harry looked at his friends.

"Well what do you think?"

"It's very large, I'm sure with some 'work', it can hold the entire Order." That was Luna, who had loved hearing stories about Arthur's modified Ford Anglia. She was hard pressed not to take her wand, safely in her pocket, out to do some experimenting on the spot.

"Can you drive something this big? That little Toyota isn't the same thing now is it?" This was Hermione, who in point of fact did have a driver's license, obtained hastily in the summer before Hallows year.

"We did a day in a pickup truck, I seemed to handle that one better the first time than I did the sedan." White knuckles and all.

Fleur said nothing, but was working out the exchange rate in her head on what she and Bill might be able to afford here. They had idly talked about getting one, or perhaps a used one. No need for driving lessons either, they lived out in the country and could learn on the roads there, with some Harry tutoring perhaps. They both made nice livings, but since magicals didn't need many of the expensive items of a modern household, their salaries were less than a muggle in the same place in their bank's hierarchy.

Sanders returned with the keys, and he opened it up. Harry hopped up into the driver's seat.

"This is different, I bet you can see the road ahead really well in this thing."

"You want to take it for a test drive?"

"Sure."

"Shall I come with you, or would you like your friends to accompany you?" Sanders naturally assumed Harry would pick the latter.

Harry pondered that for a moment, but Hermione made the decision for him.

"Better that you have no distractions Harry, we'll wait here while you go with Mr. Sanders." She didn't want him to be so busy chattering with them that he rammed into somebody.

Fleur and Luna both thought that this was a great idea, and within a couple of minutes Harry and the salesman were on the streets of London. They chitchatted the way all strangers do, and Harry was conversant enough in football to keep the conversation there. He negotiated the Range Rover around the streets with no ill effects, and it did seem like a smooth ride. The vehicle was safe enough for Teddy, and big enough to transport a gaggle of his friends around. So while they were discussing Arsenal's chances in the EPL this season, Harry resolved to buy it.

They were back in ten minutes, and Harry got out of the SUV to mock applause from his three friends. Sanders was now fully caught on about how inexperienced Harry was behind the wheel, and was quite relieved that the car had suffered no dings. He now revved up to full salesman mode.

"So what do you think?"

"I like it. But I see from the sticker that it's a bit above my price range."

"I'm sure we can work that out. What kind of extras would you want?"

Harry didn't really have a list or anything, the SUV already came with air conditioning and a CD player, his main wants. The CD player was a great one too, the car had a nice stereo system.

"What's in there is fine with me." He then up his maximum price by 300 pounds, and told it to the salesman, wanting to drive out today with the car. Harry didn't really have the patience to shop around.

Sanders pretended to consider this for a moment, trying very hard not to stare at Fleur while he did so, it was getting a little distracting.

"Add another 100 pounds and you can take it out of here today."

"Done."

Harry reached out his hand, and Sanders shook it.

"Outstanding, let's go inside and get the paperwork going."

The four younger folk dutifully followed, with Hermione walking next to Fleur.

"So are you and Bill going to be back here soon?" She had seen Fleur's appraising eye.

"Perhaps, let us see how Harry adjusts to it, and how it works with our special abilities." It was a Ministry rule that any magical person caught saying the word "magic" around muggles, was subject to a fine, and one never knew if Harry's tails had been given the slip or not, one of them being an Auror of course.

Arthur, on being informed of this visit today, had done some research in the Ministry files, and found that magical people could drive muggle automobiles, or ride in them in groups, as long as those vehicles did not come into close proximity to a large hub of magical activity. Those places included Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, The Ministry, Hogsmeade, or any large manor house such as the ones the Malfoys owned. Diagon Alley, right in muggle London, had powerful Shields up to prevent any interference. The parking area for Harry was far enough away from 12 that his house was not involved either way. He was still debating on whether to make his new purchase obvious to his watchers or not. The car park he would be using was not in direct line of sight with 12.

It took another 30 minutes or so, with Harry producing bank drafts from the muggle front for Gringotts that all magicals, including Andromeda when she was alive, used if they operated around muggles.

They pulled out of the lot at 11:00 am, a full tank of gas in the car and no set plans that any of them had to get back to.

"Where are we going Harry?" Hermione had a list of places she would like to show them all, but wanted to see what ideas he had.

"First we're getting a car seat for Teddy, then we're going music shopping so I can load up this CD player. Then whichever one of you argues the loudest, gets her way." In his mind there was no question of Teddy coming along on a trip anytime in the next week at the very least. He needed to get used to things first, both with Teddy and with the whole driving thing. The good thing was, Teddy did not seem to becoming sick of him yet, and after the third night, had stopped asking about Andromeda. Harry knew that a long conversation about her was coming with his godson, but it was to be a few years off.

But for now the four of them just had fun, eating lunch at a sushi bar that attracted them with nothing more than a cool looking sign as they were stopped at a traffic light. Teddy's car seat was bought, the most comfortable looking one that they could. The CD's were bought as well, all four of them had some familiarity with muggle music, even Luna. Over 50 of them were purchased, as Harry explained:

"The WWN can only take a man so far."

"I can't wait to see Arthur try this out."

Cue the giggles.

"Luna, if you think I'm going to let that man near this steering wheel….."

"Will you get him to try those Enchantments that he used on his Ford?"

Now that was another thing that Harry couldn't really decide on. The invisibility part of it was especially appealing, and the idea of being able to fly in it……..but that was a problem too, he did not want to get too tempted. So he brought up his quandary to the three women, and running the gamut, their opinions were:

"Get the invisibility part of it, if he can do it. I don't see why you would need the car to fly, remember how much trouble that got you and Ron in last time. Besides, Arthur's the head of the Muggle Office, he can't report you to himself." That was Hermione's take.

"You should load it up with as many Charms as you can, it can be an excellent test case." From Luna, who looked quite excited at the thought.

"I think that you should just leave it as a muggle car Harry, leave well enough alone." That was Fleur's plan, and it turned out that it was the one that Harry would go with for the time being. By the end of the week the Range Rover remained undetected by any of his watchers, as Harry was slowly working driving it into his routine.

Monday, September 29, 1999

4:55 pm

Office of the Flying Instructor, Hogwarts

The Narcissa visit with Teddy again went smoothly, though she was again not allowed to bring anything with her other than photographs. This time George was the only non-Harry chaperone in the room, and the one eared man had to admit:

"She does seem to be making an effort, doesn't she?" He said this very quietly in an aside to Harry, though both still had their wands trained on Mrs. Malfoy. Subtly of course, Teddy was still not clear on what wands actually did, though he did seem them used two or three times per day. Harry was loathe to actually use his in front of his godson, for fear that the little tyke might grab it one day and cause some chaos.

"Yes she does, but we still have to do what we have to do."

"That goes without saying mate. I'm ready whenever you are."

"Let's give her the full hour, no need to push anything." That would prove to be problematic later on though.

And so they did give her the hour, and as soon as Harry's watch hit 5:00.…….

"C'mon buddy, we need to go see Aunt Hermie."

"Okay." Teddy, to the great relief of everyone involved, had totally taken to Hermione, even if he did not seem to worship her like he did Luna. He waved goodbye to Narcissa, and left with Harry for the minute long walk to Hermione's office.

Narcissa looked at George, his wand was still out, but no longer pointed at her:

"So what do you people want from me this time? I'm surprised that your friend was willing to wait." The sneer was still there a bit, but her tone of voice was more one of boredom than anything else.

"Nothing too outrageous, unfortunately. Harry will be back in a moment." George couldn't hide his contempt for his visitor.

And for a brief moment, the old Narcissa Malfoy came back:

"You really need to fix that ear boy, you really want to go through life looking like a freak?"

Now George could tell where Draco got it from, even the pitch of her voice evoked the little ferret before his voice broke.

"Thanks for that Narcissa, you just made this a lot easier. Stupefy!"

His wand didn't have very far to travel, and the Stunner slammed into her chest, making her crumple to the floor. George checked her, to make sure that she was out, and went to the door.

"Hurry up Harry!"

It turned out that our boy was just about to turn the corner, and was in the room about 15 seconds later.

"Easy there mate…….hang on, you knocked her out already? Did she make an ear joke or something?" He said this with the beginning of a smile, which immediately stopped when he noticed George's facial expression.

"So?" A bit of a challenge.

"Let the record reflect that I've never made an ear joke." Very true, and that did the trick, as his friend's tone softened slightly.

"You can make them all you like youngster, but that bitch can't. Now go get Bill so we can get this over with."

"Yes dear." He walked over to the fireplace that was only reason he had even taken this office. Throwing the powder in:

"Bill Weasley!"

Bill didn't respond verbally, instead he came though the floo a few seconds later, followed by his wife. While they were coming out, Harry threw an advanced Locking Charm at the door, and turned off the floo. They didn't want any visitors for this, though the magic of the castle allowed Headmistress McGonagall extraordinary liberties when it came to going places inside it. So to be safe, they would have to be quick.

George was pointing his wand at Narcissa as they got ready, and Fleur came up beside her favorite brother-in-law, her wand also at the ready. At Bill's nod, George, then Fleur fired:

"Enervate!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Narcissa was immediately woken up, then frozen. Bill dropped the Veritaserum drops in her mouth, and Fleur immediately undid her handiwork:

"Finite Incantatem."

Harry was ready, and tied her up with magical ropes, just to make sure that she didn't get away with some heretofore unseen martial arts skills.

"How dare you, I was cooperating!" She sounded genuinely offended.

Harry was the one to reply:

"Maybe, but now we'll be sure. Don't worry, we'll Obliviate you, just like you people are so fond of doing. State your name for the record."

"Narcissa Germaine Black Malfoy."

"Your age?"

"40."

Said right away, and Bill and company took it as a sign that the truth potion was working perfectly. Harry continued:

"Who is Dean Thomas to you?" He did not want to bring up Percy quite yet.

"Your former roommate."

This was not necessarily something the general public would know off the tops of their heads, as while Harry's life had been obsessively chronicled, Dean and Seamus had escaped most of the attention that was given to Neville and Ron.

"Was he a guest or prisoner at your home recently?"

"Yes."

"Which one? Guest? Prisoner?"

"Prisoner." She had now given up fighting the drug, as was usual for someone with a less than powerful mind.

"For how long?"

"About a week or so."

"Was he the source of the information on my nightmares?"

"Yes."

"Was Dean Thomas tortured at any point?"

"Draco said that he hit him with Crucio a few times, but did no lasting damage."

Harry had no great love for his predecessor as Ginny's boyfriend, but he resolved then to get some payback for Dean if at all possible.

"Why was he not killed after his usefulness was completed?"

"They still have some plans for him."

"What are they?"

"I don't know, it has something to do with the Weasley girl."

Then Bill got to what the four of them were really after, though he had not liked the Ginny reference one little bit:

"Who is Percy Weasley?"

"Your brother."

"Have you or any member of your family been in contact with him?"

"Yes."

Bill managed to keep going, though his insides were churning. He hated being proved right in this instance.

"Who specifically?"

"I have met him once this summer, my husband and son are the ones who deal with him."

"Has he ever been in your home?"

"Yes, twice that I know of."

"What has he told Draco and Lucius?"

"Insight into your family and your organization."

In theory, Percy should know relatively little about The Order, beyond it's current composition, but it was still not a good thing to hear.

"Has he placed Charms on your family's behalf?"

"He claims that he has."

"Where are the Charms?"

"The Weasley home and various places in The Ministry." Too general to know if Fleur had found all three, though she had checked every time she was at The Burrow since then.

For their parts, Harry and Neville had done a thorough sweep, or so they believed at the time, of 12 in the days after Percy was suspected of treachery, and found nothing. But Harry was still beyond relieved that the two of them had not missed anything.

"Did Percy approach your husband, or vice versa?"

"Lucius approached Percy."

"When?"

"At the end of June, right before the Hogwarts graduation."

"Why?"

"He was the member of your family who was susceptible, Lucius felt that none of the others would turn. He wanted someone on the inside in case there was a chance for something to happen."

"Is Percy being paid for his information and cooperationi?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"I believe it's 200 galleons per month."

George whistled, that was not much money considering, probably half of what someone like Percy would make working in a lower to mid-level job at The Ministry like he did.

Bill could do that math too, and both of them were incredibly sad that their brother had betrayed them for so little. They could only speculate that his hatred of them had been buried just enough to avoid detection.

"Does he have instructions to kill anyone?"

"I don't know."

Uh oh.

"Do Lucius or Draco suspect that Percy is in league with Kingsley Shacklebolt or Gawain Robards?"

"No, he passed their Veritaserum test."

Bill went quiet for a moment, he didn't think he could trust his voice. Harry took over.

"Does The Ministry believe that Percy is spying for them?"

"He claims that they do."

So Ginny was very partially right, and quite a lot wrong. If Ginny had not been supportive with Teddy that night, Harry might have relished the conversation to come with her. But not now.

"So he is pretending to spy for The Ministry?"

"Yes."

"Are Kingsley Shacklebolt, Gawain Robards, or Amos Diggory in league with your husband and his associates?"

"Not that I know about."

At least it did not go any further up the food chain. The rest of the conversation was an in depth conversation about Malfoy Manor, and all of it's entrances, hidden rooms, and security measures. It was not as in depth as they wanted, because to a point Harry and Bill did not know what questions to ask. Neither had invaded a private home before, this would take more thought than they had anticipated.

The questions were over, and Narcissa had been immobilized again, while Bill was modifying her memory. Harry took Fleur aside.

"Whatever we do, we can't let him go off half-cocked. Yes, Percy betrayed us, but we need to make absolutely sure." He didn't want Bill to immediately jump in the floo and head to The Burrow with the intent of killing his brother.

"I know Harry, and I have something to say on that. But let us wait for Bill and George." Little did they know that George was standing right next to Bill to make certain that Harry's fears did not come to fruition. They looked over to see Bill ramming Narcissa's head into the stone floor.

"What the hell……?" Even Harry didn't want to beat the crap out of her.

"She slipped and fell Harry, we have to explain why the visit took an extra 30 minutes don't we?" To his credit, Bill was neither smiling at his cleverness nor glowering at his prisoner with the rage that he was undoubtedly feeling at present.

"Oh yeah, good thinking." Though Harry was glad that Hermione was not there to see that, but he now thought that he should have ended the visit at 4:30 and saved Bill the trouble.

And it was good thinking, the four of them managed to convince her that she had slipped on some juice that Teddy had spilled, and that it had taken them some time to wake her up. She bought the story, or seemed to, and gave no indication that she knew that she had been drugged and questioned for half an hour. Once she was gone, Fleur made her point:

"I still do not know if I believe her, this is little different than last week when all we did was 'hear' a performance. What if this is nothing more than a plant by Lucius to entice us into something?"

George chose to be the one to play devil's advocate here:

"Are you sure that they're capable of that kind of drama? That's an awful lot of planning and foresight for something that just 'might' come up eventually."

"Lucius Malfoy has had over a year to plan this, and to begin the subterfuge with his wife. I do not think this is enough to take to the group. We need to question Percy ourselves, and as soon as possible. That she saw him in their home is by itself not enough for me, we need to ask him."

Harry and Bill said nothing at first, but eventually Bill couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I'm sorry honey, but I just can't believe that Lucius is capable of that kind of planning. No, we need to settle this now, and I mean tonight. Mum and Dad are growing more and more distant by the day, and Ginny is clever and bold enough to try something on her own eventually. We need closure on this issue, we've tiptoed around for far too long, and yes I realize that I have advocated that. But no longer, we need to do this for the family's sake. Our family." He waved at all of them, each of whom had a place on the Weasley family clock, as did a growing impatient in her office Hermione.

"Okay, so what do we do now big brother?"

Bill responded to George by walking over to the floo.

"Professor Granger!" Even Bill smiled when he said that, after a few weeks of it.

"Yes, are you done?" She had known what was coming, even if she was in class for most of it, the only one not present who did.

"We are, and we need you over here, please floo Neville and have him come over smartly as well. We're going to The Burrow." Bill then turned to Harry.

"Do you trust Kreacher alone with Teddy?"

"I'd really rather not mate. Do I have a couple of minutes?"

"To do what?"

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Yes Master?" Kreacher had just been about to start dinner, and had his apron on.

"Please go into my bedroom and get the piece of parchment that I have taped over my desk."

CRACK!

"What are you thinking?"

"Natalie McDonald, my unofficial Quidditch protégé. She has three younger brothers, I'm sure she knows all about kids." None were at Hogwarts just yet either.

CRACK!

Kreacher returned with The Marauder's Map, and once Harry solemnly swore that he was up to no good, he saw that Natalie was in the Gryffindor Common Room, presumably about to go to dinner.

Hermione, Neville, and Teddy were now coming through the door into Harry's office. Harry pointed to the spot on the Map.

"Kreacher, go there and stop her from leaving. Just say that I need to talk to her about Quiddtich practice times."

He motioned for him to leave, and within ten minutes Natalie was in Harry's office with Teddy, his toys, and a nice dinner being served her by Kreacher. As the others were flooing to The Burrow, Natalie asked:

"How long will you be?" She had not thought to bring homework with her.

"I have no idea Natalie, but I do appreciate this. I owe you one."

"Don't worry about it, do what you need to do."

He threw her a grateful smile, and followed Hermione into the floo.

At The Burrow, Ron, Ginny, Molly, and Arthur were just sitting down to dinner when the Narcissa interrogators came through the fireplace. Molly was about to get up and offer them some dinner, but quailed at the look on Bill's face as he dusted himself off. Arthur did get up.

"What happened?"

"Where is he?"

No need to ask who 'he' was.

"He's out with Penelope, I don't know what restaurant they went to. Why, what happened?"

Bill said nothing at first, but whispered in George's good ear for a tick. His brother nodded, and proceeded to mute every Listening Charm in the downstairs of The Burrow. When he was done, Bill continued:

"We just had a chat with Narcissa, and she named your favorite son as a Malfoy mole."

Ginny's face screwed up immediately.

"Oh really? Imagine that, a Malfoy trying to throw suspicion on Percy. And of course you believed her, because she told you what you wanted to hear!"

"We believe her because we drugged her, you idiot!" Bill's nerves were completely on edge, he had really been hoping that Percy would be there.

Arthur made a point of getting between his eldest son and only daughter.

"Calm down, both of you." As stern as he could make it, though he knew that Bill had stopped listening to him about more than just Percy.

For his part Bill just looked at Fleur, which always had the effect of calming him down. Sometimes Veela blood comes in handy for more things than getting a good deal on a car.

Ginny was already calm, of a sort. There were tears in her eyes, as she immediately realized that Bill would not lie about the Veritaserum. Arthur noticed this

"What did she say Bill?"

"Percy has been on the Malfoy payroll since June, and passed his own Veritaserum test to prove that he was not working for us or for Kingsley. Now there is the small chance that Lucius might have been scamming his wife all this time, as part of some grand plan……but she told us the truth as she knew it. It's time, we need to end this now."

"What will you do to him?"

"Question him, and see how far this goes, and if there is anyone else involved that we should know about. George, why don't you go to The Leaky Cauldron and make sure that he's not there. Hermione, if you would go to The Three Broomsticks and Madam Puddlefoot's in Hogsmeade to do the same. Tell him that there's an emergency with Mum, don't argue if Penelope wants to come with you."

Both George and Hermione nodded, and flooed off within the minute.

Now it was four against three, and all four on the anti-Percy side of the aisle were fervently hoping that Arthur, Molly, and Ginny did not realize that the parchment wouldn't allow anyone to restrain anyone else, physically or magically, from leaving anytime they wanted.

There was no discussion, only silence as they waited. Five minutes passed by before George came through the floo.

"He's not there, and Tom the barman hasn't seen him since lunch yesterday, where he ate with Penelope."

"So he didn't go through the gateway?"

"Not that he noticed, no."

"Then it's a good bet that he's in Hogsmeade. Hermione will get him." If the Percy that they thought they knew seemed to like anyone besides Ginny, it was Hermione, the only one who really showed an interest in him and what he was doing.

Another five minutes passed before Penelope Clearwater, who most of them had not laid eyes on since hers and Percy's graduation, tumbled through the floo. It was still firing, and Percy was right behind her, followed by, eventually, Hermione.

"What's going on? What's wrong with Mum?" He did not sound especially panicked, but rather with a calculated sense of concern in his voice.

Bill just looked at him with an expression that would boil cheese.

"Nothing's wrong with Mum Percy."

"Then what the hell is going on here? Why did you interrupt our dinner?"

Then he and Penelope noticed that Harry, George, Neville, Fleur, Bill, and even Ginny, all had their wands pointed at him.

"What is this?" Now he sounded a bit worried, as his eldest brother answered him.

"It's judgment day, brother. Stupefy!"

End Chapter


	20. Hair Raising

Monday, September 29, 1999 continued

5:45 pm

The Burrow

"It's judgment day, brother. Stupefy."

Bill's wand flashed, and his brother crumpled to the floor.

Penelope's eyes went even wider than Luna's, but before she could do anything……say, Apparate away and warn somebody, Harry put a Stupefy into her back, putting her down next to her perhaps boyfriend. Hermione now flooed into this scene, and quickly walked over to Harry, both of them were staring at the Weasley parents, of course so was everyone else.

The look of horror on Molly's face would not have looked out of place in a scary movie, or even next to that famous Scream painting. Arthur's face was much more passive, but on the inside he was bitterly regretting his involvement in the new Order. Indeed his eldest son looked at him now.

"What's going on now is Order business, you must realize that. So please, whatever you may be wishing right now, going to Kingsley would be very, very bad for you." Meaning the parchment, and a tiny part of Bill was hoping that someone would test it right now.

Molly was now crying, and Arthur's voice was almost dead sounding.

"Your mother and I are not going to Kingsley." It was not clear whether he just didn't want to, or whether he understood the parchment threat.

"We're not going to torture him Dad, though I'll certainly threaten to. No, Percy will remain unmarked solely because he is your son, even if he is a traitor." Bill thought he was being somewhat magnanimous here, given what Percy was being accused of.

"Am I supposed to be grateful to you for that Bill?" Clearly Arthur didn't think so.

"What's the saying? Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you. The second part is you Dad. I can take it from Mum, but I expected better from you." There was just the slightest tinge of contempt in his voice at the end.

Arthur said nothing, he simply went over to his wife and hugged her. Harry sidled up to Bill, and murmured in his ear, as Neville policed up Percy's and Penelope's wands.

"Please tell me that you're not wanting to question him here."

The response was equally quiet.

"No, we should do it at your house. My cottage doesn't have the wards we need in case Percy's cavalry comes for him." They both thought it highly unlikely that the Malfoys, if that's indeed whom Percy was working for, would risk any troops for a Weasley, traitor or not. But still, stranger things had happened.

"What do we do with Penelope?"

"Question her too, just in case. Head over to the house and make sure everything is set, and that Teddy is in his room and all that." The last thing he wanted was the little guy wandering into this.

"You got it."

Harry walked over to the floo, and threw the powder in:

"Harry Potter's office!" And he was gone, to collect Teddy, relieve Natalie of her babysitting duties, and get the little guy into his room with a locked door.

Ginny now entered the conversation:

"We're taking him to Headquarters?"

"Yes, it's totally secure and with plenty of space. We have to work quickly before Percy will be missed from The Ministry. Dad, what does Penelope do for a living?"

Arthur had disengaged from Molly, and shot his son as baleful a stare as this usually happy man was capable of…..but he still answered the question.

"She's the assistant manager at Flourish and Blotts, I couldn't tell you if she works tomorrow or not." Nor was he willing to speculate.

"Well we'll find out soon enough. We're going to give Harry ten minutes or so to get Teddy sorted out."

Arthur wanted no part of going to 12, but had to know one thing:

"What will you do with him after you find out what you want to know?"

"If Percy is working for the Malfoys and not anyone else remotely on our side, then we'll turn him over to Kingsley. Probably."

"Probably?" The Weasley patriarch didn't like how that sounded.

"We have one person sort of on the inside there, another person wouldn't hurt. We'll find out more when we question him. I don't blame you if you don't want to go Dad." He knew that Molly wouldn't want to witness this.

Except that she did.

"Arthur can do what he likes, but I will be there. Someone needs to speak for Percy, whatever he has done."

"It's nice to see that my promise not to hurt him isn't good enough for you." Bill knew that he should be hurt at his mother's sally, but oddly enough he wasn't.

"I don't want things to get out of hand. If I am there, there is a less likely chance that they would be."

Neville, having not said a word since saying 'The Burrow' into the floo, thought it was hilarious that Molly thought that she would have any influence whatsoever in 12, especially if Harry had anything to say about it. But he kept quiet though, sharing a bemused glance with Hermione, who was thinking along those same lines. Bill didn't see this, but didn't see a way to say 'No Mum, you're not coming.'

"Fair enough, but don't interfere as long as we don't harm him."

Molly chose to neither agree nor disagree with this, and instead bent over Percy, to make sure that his fall to the floor had not cut or bruised him. Neville walked over to Bill, and out of anyone else's sightline:

"You know, Kreacher never signed that parchment." Kreacher could punt anyone out of 12 that Harry ordered him to, including Molly……..a Weasley fan Kreacher was not.

"We'll see, but good thinking." Very quietly, as Arthur had never stopped looking at Bill.

The ten minutes clicked off slowly, as Hermione went off first, followed by Ginny, and then the others in turn. What they never noticed was that Percy's hand on the Weasley clock was firmly rooted in DANGER……….though not in Mortal Peril, as it had been just before his and Penelope's arrivals in The Burrow.

Everyone went over, including a hastily called Luna and Ron, still at the Quibbler and WWW respectively, finishing up their duties and not realizing there was so much drama going down. Arthur didn't want to see or hear any of this, but ultimately decided that it was better to see it firsthand than to sit in his home, wondering.

Bill was the last to go, and when he got to 12, still via Hogwarts, the scene was this:

Percy and Penelope were trussed up in kitchen chairs in the living room, surrounded by this rump version of The Order: Harry, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Luna, George, Fleur, Molly, and Arthur. Kreacher was nowhere to be seen, as Harry soon explained to Bill.

"He's outside Teddy's door right now, if our little guy gets the urge to wander around, Kreacher will distract him." With food probably, Teddy ate so much good food that it was only a lot of running about that prevented him from being chubby.

"Good enough, you have the Veritaserum?"

"Yeah, but only five doses left. Slughorn doesn't mind making it for me, but it's kind of time consuming and he has other things to do you know." Potions Professor Horace Slughorn, not present though still an Order member, was their preferred supplier of all potions, given his reliability and complete discretion.

"Well we'll need one for Penelope, and two probably for Percy. I'll start beating the bushes for another supplier of it."

"Who's first?" Harry gestured to the two wrapped up prisoners.

"Penelope I think, it'll warm us up for the main event." Bill was not enjoying himself right now, but there was nothing else to do but get this business over with. He walked over to Penelope and pointed his wand at her.

"Evervate."

She woke up with a start, frantically looking around the room.

"What happened? Where am I?"

Bill was the one to question her:

"You're in a safe place, and you have my apologies if you did nothing wrong."

"What are you talking about? Let me go!" She was futilely struggling against her bonds, and presumably trying to Apparate away.

"We will, and no matter what you say during questioning, you will not be harmed, I promise." His voice was as soothing as he could make it.

"Does this have to do with Percy? What has he done?" Still struggling, pointless though it may be.

"We're not sure yet, but all signs point to him working for Lucius Malfoy."

"I know, he was talking to him about a job."

Bill resisted temptation to look over at his parents.

"What kind of job?" No drugs had been given yet.

"I don't know, something to do with importing, that's mostly what they do I guess."

"Penelope, we're going to give you some Veritaserum now and ask some more questions of you. After those questions, and enough time has passed to make sure that you're not under any Polyjuice, we're going to let you go."

"What about Percy?"

"We don't know yet." Bill was mildly surprised that she was not asking about Obliviation, and was more concerned about Percy than herself. Surprised, but impressed.

"I guess what I want makes no difference then does it?"

"Sorry, no. It'll be up to you whether you want to hear Percy's questioning or not. Now please open your mouth."

She did so, not seeing a way around it, and Neville put the three drops in. They waited a minute or so, and then Bill's still gentle questions commenced.

"State your name please."

"Penelope Katherine Clearwater."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 23 years old."

"Where do you work and what do you do there?" Testing out Arthur's answer.

"Flourish and Blotts, I'm the assistant manager." And Arthur passed with flying colors.

"When do you work next?"

"Wednesday at 9:00 am." She worked on Saturdays as the second in charge, so had revolving days off during the week.

Duly noted, Penelope would not be a multi-day guest at 12, though there was a room in the house that Harry and company had speculated was a gilded prison cell, used long ago by the Blacks for reasons best left unexplored. Maybe Percy would reside there.

"Is Percy Weasley your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"About five weeks this time."

"Why did you break up with him the first time?" Bill was pretty sure there were just the two times.

"He said that I didn't support him enough when he was having troubles with the Barty Crouch business. We kept fighting and eventually agreed to end things." This was four years earlier.

"And what happened this time?"

"He said that he missed me, and that he had always regretted how he behaved then."

"You believed him."

"I did, he was very sincere. I missed him."

Harry and Ron were both somewhat incredulous at the idea of anyone missing Percy, and Harry even started silently snickering at the look on Ron's face.

"When did he start talking to the Malfoys?"

"It was before we got back together, I don't know exactly when."

"Do you believe that the Malfoys have changed?"

"I don't know, I haven't spoken with any of them. Percy says that they have."

"Do you work for the Malfoys?"

"No."

"Are you in sympathy with the views of The True Voice?"

"No."

"Did you believe the stories in it?"

"I didn't know what to think about them."

"Do you work for The Ministry?" A sudden flash of inspiration from Bill.

"No."

"What do you think of Percy now, after the events of tonight?"

"I don't know what to think."

She was saying 'I don't know' a lot, so Bill figured that either he was asking the wrong questions or she really did not know much about anything.

"Do you believe your life is in danger?"

"Yes."

She was wrong about that, though he had asked for a belief, but Bill could see no more benefit to continuing the questioning.

"I'm sorry for that, but again, I promise you that it's not."

"If you say so."

"Would you like to see Percy's answers?"

"Yes."

At least she was curious, that was something, and in all Bill felt pretty sorry for her.

"Okay then, I'm going to untie you, but we're going to hang on to your wand for the time being. You can't Apparate out of here, and it would be a very bad idea to try any kind of wandless magic. Understand?" He didn't think she could physically fight her way of there, unless she had ninja skills that no one suspected.

"I do."

"Finite Incantatem." And the ropes disappeared.

Penelope got up and stretched her arms out, now getting a look at her captors.

"Am I to be Obliviated?"

"Should we?"

"You really think that Percy has turned Dark?"

"We have evidence to suggest that he has, it's not quite hard evidence, but better than circumstantial."

"I hope you people know what you're doing." She sounded more curious than anything, and was certainly making no attempt to flee. She accepted a glass of water from Hermione, who tried to smile at her.

"No hidden ingredients."

Penelope said nothing back, but instead looked at her boyfriend while sipping the water.

Bill and Harry shared a look that agreed that it was time, and Harry woke up the renegade Weasley, whom he had re-stunned a few minutes earlier, not wanting to take any chances.

"Enervate."

Percy was now awake, and shaking his head much like Penelope had. Before he could say anything Harry stood in front of him and put a Silencing Charm on him.

"Okay Percy, here's how this is going to work: Bill and I are going to ask you some questions without drugs, and then with the drugs. Then we'll compare the answers and proceed to hurt you for every answer that changes under Veritaserum. That's the only way you will be tortured here, if you lie. Tell the truth and this will all just be a bad dream. Nod that you understand."

Percy had used Harry's speech to get his mind clear, and after the obligatory futile attempt at Apparition, he looked around the room. He saw his mother and father and immediately assumed Harry's bluff, there was no way that he would be tortured in front of the two of them. So instead of nodding yes or no, he kept his head as still as he could.

"You're not nodding, but neither are you a simpleton, so I'll take that as a yes."

He took off the Silencing Charm, and to everyone's surprise, Percy did not say anything. No protests, no pleas of innocence. He just sat there, bound in his chair, waiting. And so Harry began the questioning.

"Alright then, let's get the big stuff out of the way. How long have you been in the employ of Lucius Malfoy?"

More silence, Percy had decided that he wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

"I'm sorry Percy, I didn't hear you. How long have you been working for Lucius Malfoy?" Still said in as reasonable a tone of voice as Harry could muster right now.

There was still no answer, and Harry looked at Bill and shrugged. Bill took the Veritaserum from Neville and prepared the dose. Harry just looked at his prisoner and sighed.

"Fine, have it your way. Just remember that the only people in the room who love you, cannot prevent the rest of us from doing what we want with you. If you were innocent you would have said so by now, I've read enough muggle detective novels to know that much at least." With a quick move, he grabbed Percy's hair and yanked back on it, causing the older man to gasp……..which allowed Bill easy access to drop the Veritaserum in. Harry released his hold, and as Percy's head snapped back down, Harry whispered in his ear:

"God help you, for no one in here can."

That did get Percy's eyes to bug just a little, which was the whole idea. Harry immediately decided that he would look into joining a local theatre company, he was digging all the different roles he was playing.

Bill took over:

"State your name."

"Percy Ignatius Weasley."

"Where do you live?"

"The Burrow."

"Who pays you?" Bill went for the jugular right away, no need for softening up questions with this group all watching.

"The Ministry and Lucius Malfoy."

"Who is your loyalty to? The Ministry or Lucius Malfoy?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

The answer rocked the room, all of whom, save perhaps Molly, nonetheless expected to hear it. Hermione then stepped forward, finding her voice before Bill.

"Who is your loyalty to? Lucius Malfoy, or yourself?"

"Myself of course." As if it was perfectly obvious.

"Do you believe in the Malfoy ideals?"

"Some of them."

"Why are you working for him?" Hermione, while she had the floor, wanted no part of hearing which ideals Percy was in favor of and which he wasn't.

"The Ministry deserves to go down, it's a rotten system and they are the only mechanism for change."

Arthur stood up with a start, of all the things he had expected to hear from his third son, this was not even on the list. He managed to croak out a question.

"What kind of change?"

"No government at all, aside from some Obliviators for the muggle scum. The Ministry spend all their time talking, sucking up our galleons while they accomplish nothing. That's what I do all day, I write reports about nothing." This was not the tune he had been singing in the months since he had been made Deputy Chief Scribe of the Wizengamot, or before that as Barty Crouch's and Cornelius Fudge's left hand man, but he was on the drugs now, not then.

"And Lucius is going to help change that?" Hermione again, as Arthur had sat down upon hearing what could conceivably be called a Communist declaration.

"He's better than Robards, better than Potter or my idiot brothers. He'll bring down the government and soon we'll all be free to do what we want."

"How long have you felt this way? How many years?"

"Two years, ever since I got a close-up look at Fudge in action. It was all I could do not to kill him so many times."

Bill nodded at Hermione that would resume his role in the questioning, he wasn't really interested in Percy's views of government, and instead wanted the focus back on his activities against his family.

"Did you place Listening Charms in The Burrow?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"In the living room, Ginny's room, and by the floo."

"So just three, correct?"

"Yes."

Fleur and Ron both sighed in happiness, they were the ones who swept The Burrow when necessary and were beyond relieved to learn that they had done their jobs properly. They shared a rare smile with each other.

"Where else have you placed Listening Charms?"

Percy proceeded to reel of a list of departments in The Ministry, he was in and out of a lot of them all the time. None were what could be called sensitive, or likely to be swept by the counterintelligence Aurors, but there was a lot of information to be gleaned. Arthur was chagrined to learn that his office had a pair of them, he had mulishly resisted Bill's instructions to check for them. Now he knew that an 'I told you so' was coming pretty soon.

"How often do you see Lucius or Draco?"

"Three times a week usually, more often if I have sensitive information to pass to them."

"Where do you meet them?"

"In muggle London for the most part, sometimes at Malfoy Manor. I don't socialize with them." He added that last part on his own volition, and Harry couldn't resist the natural follow-up.

"Do you want to socialize with them?"

"Of course not, they look down on me, they think they're using me."

"Aren't they?"

"They think so, but as long as I get what I want, I'm satisfied."

"How much are they paying you for this cooperation?"

"2,000 galleons per month."

And the first chink in the Narcissa questioning showed up, she had not known about the extra zero at the end of that paycheck. Now George and Bill could understand it a bit better, that was a lot of money, more than either of them earned for sure.

"Do you have any instructions to kill anyone?"

"Not yet, though Draco has hinted at it."

Oh Harry was sure that he had, the son, like the father, would not want any direct blood on his hands when the time came. Though Cruciatus didn't count.

"Speaking of Draco, did he tell you to goad Ginny into attacking me?"

"He thought it was a good idea when I suggested it."

"Why did you do suggest it?"

"I wanted to see if I could turn her to my side, but I never got the chance. You people closed ranks a lot quicker that I had thought you would. She was easy to manipulate though."

Ginny couldn't decide whether to start screaming or start swinging.

She chose the latter.

WHAP!

Right across Percy's mug, and fortunately for him she didn't wear any rings or he might have lost a tooth. It did ring his bell a bit, but he said nothing, even as his lip started to bleed a little. Molly rushed forward to wipe it off, staring daggers at her daughter.

Ginny so did not want to hear any criticism right now, her face was burning red at her, in her mind, humiliation in front of Harry and Hermione. She pointed at her mother.

"Don't even start Mum, I don't want to hear one word."

"Watch your tone with me young lady!"

"Oh please, you'll let Percy turn on us, but God forbid I raise my voice to you."

That was a nice shot, and Fleur and Luna were both giggling a little bit. Even Percy was smiling, once his noggin stopped vibrating.

"Don't stop on my account."

"Oh sod off traitor, I can't believe that I ever trusted you." Ginny was about five seconds away from drawing her wand right now.

"I told you what you wanted to hear, nothing more. You wanted to assault Potter from the moment you heard about him and the mudblood, and so you did."

Well that answered one question about Percy's agreement with the Mafloy ideals. Before Hermione could stop him, Harry took the four steps over to Percy and yanked on his hair as hard as he could with both hands.

And it was hard, since the interrogation chairs were magically rooted to the floor, hence no give whatsoever.

"What did you say Percy? I believe you called my girlfriend something!"

Harry REALLY hated that word, mudblood, and had done some verbal flogging of himself in that tent during Hallows year for putting up with anyone using that where Hermione could hear them. He was now demonstrating, very vividly, his hatred of that word. Percy was in such pain that he couldn't immediately form speech.

"Harry! Let go of him!" Molly made a move to stop him, but Arthur quickly grabbed her, he didn't want Harry's rage let loose upon his wife.

"Eh Percy!? I didn't hear you, what did you say?" Harry was not a heavy man, but he was wiry strong and one hand was loosening up because of the hair coming out of Percy's head the hard way.

"A mudblood!" Percy was in agony, but he couldn't believe that his mother wouldn't stop this any second. He did not know that Molly couldn't physically force Harry to do it, the terms of the parchments had not been discussed in front of the Listeners he had placed. Also, he had been forced to repeat the word due to the Veritaserum.

It was Hermione who stopped it, slowly walking over and putting her hand on Harry's neck. He saw her out of the corner of his eye, so he knew it was her, and made no move to shrug it off.

"You've made your point Harry." Said where everyone could hear, but there was no reproach in her words.

Harry immediately relaxed his grip upon hearing her words, and gradually let Percy's head go back to where it would normally be. When he let go, there were clumps of Percy's hair in his hands. He walked over to Molly and put the clumps into her hands.

"Don't ever give me orders in this house Molly, ever." He silently vowed that he would not be darkening the door at The Burrow anytime soon.

Molly, having been briefly told off by two people less than half her age in the last two minutes, was almost in a state of shock. She held on to the clumps of hair, for lack of anything else to do with them.

Bill, while appreciating what his protégé had done, nevertheless had an agenda to get back to.

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes." Indeed there were tears in Percy's eyes, though nearly being scalped without a knife will tend to do that.

"I think if you use that term again, Harry might decline to see reason and really hurt you. You have been warned."

Percy had nothing to say to that, he was now aware of how much danger he was in, with an unstable Boy Who Lived being on a very loose leash.

"Now where were we? Oh right, Lucius and Draco. Have you committed any crimes on their behalf, or on your own, since you entered their employ?"

"Yes."

"Which ones?"

"The Listening Charms."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"You're not a soldier for them I take it?"

"That's not my job."

"One of your jobs is to give them inside information on The Order, correct?"

"Yes."

"Why did you decide to leave it then?"

"Because I knew that there was to be some kind of loyalty test and that I would not be able to pass it."

"Were you involved in the Dean Thomas operation?"

"Yes."

"How so?"

"I recommended using him rather than Finnegan."

"Why?

"Ginny is fond of comparing Thomas and Potter, I thought that he would be more effective."

Ginny was very red now, and George and Ron made sure that she would have an obstructed path if she were to want to wallop Percy again. Instead she contented herself with staring hatefully at her mother, who was not backing down from the staring contest either.

"Do you love anyone in your family?"

Everyone leaned forward to hear the answer to that one.

"I don't know."

That was the truth as Percy knew it, but Molly took it as a 'no' and started crying. Arthur wasn't doing much better as he held her. Bill, George, and Ron all had the very unwanted satisfaction of being right, though they much wished otherwise.

Neville was curious about something:

"Do you love Penelope Clearwater?" He wanted to know if Percy loved anyone at all.

"Yes."

Penelope didn't quite know what to think here, she was gratified that her love for this very odd man was returned……….but the rest of his story left her a bit cold. This needed further thinking once this was finished, if she was allowed to think.

Their time with the Veritaserum was running short, there was a limit with the three drop, non-life threatening, method. So Bill signaled that they were done for the night, following up, after some reflection time, was to be done tomorrow afternoon after everyone was done with their days. He and Harry escorted a now Stunned Percy up to the gilded prison room he would be sleeping in, and forced him to drink a 12 hour sleeping draught that Slughorn had supplied them, another would be given in the morning. Once back downstairs:

"Dad, regrettably Percy will be ill and unable to work tomorrow, you'll need to inform Percy's supervisor." That would be the Chief Scribe for the Wizengamot, Phineas Weayborn.

"Fine." There was no emotion in his voice, Arthur was all wrung out, and hoping nothing else was going to happen.

Bill would take what he could get though, and turned to Harry.

"Thank you. Harry, please no experimenting on Percy while he's your guest. You've already given him a hair problem, no need to go any further." Bill was indeed just a hair bit worried that Harry, with nothing to do in the early afternoon between Puddlemere duties and Hogwarts duties, would be bored and look to Percy for entertainment. He had chosen to do this publicly in his one gesture toward the mollification of his mother, pun intended.

"If you say so." Harry pretended to look disgruntled, just to unsettle Molly and Arthur, but he had gotten it out of his system anyway.

"I do. Now, Penelope."

The moment she had been dreading.

"What to do about me." She sounded quite nervous, but stood her ground.

"The way I see it, you have two choices: Obliviation, or you join us."

Eh?

"Excuse me? You want me to join your…..what do you call it? Order?" She was a bit flummoxed at the idea, which was not an unwelcome development.

"The Order of the Phoenix, of which you might have guessed is led by myself and Harry. It's name is kind of anachronistic really, but we keep it for sentimental purposes. We have a way of ensuring that you keep our secrets, and your mind is agile enough that I'm sure we could use your talents. And I would really like to not Obliviate you."

"So I would be helping you to fight against the Malfoys…….and Percy."

"There has been only one fight so far, and only Harry, George, and Ron were a part of it." The developments on Hogwarts Express day, which were multiple attacks within one operation.

"I'm going to have no time to think about this, am I?"

"Sorry, no." He did sound sorry too.

"Well better to know than not to know I guess. I'm in, on one condition."

"We're listening."

"I would like someone to tell me, tonight, what led to all of this with Percy. I want the background."

Bill had thought that the condition would have something to do with Percy, but he wasn't expecting something like this. So he was very pleased to agree.

"That sounds fair, accepted. Welcome to The Order." He held out his hand, and she shook it.

Fleur did not need to be told to go get the parchments, which resided in Bill's desk at the bank. She was there and back in a couple of minutes, Gringott's employees could come and go as they pleased as long as they got their work completed to satisfaction. Penelope was given the highlights of the parchments, Percy had already told her about the Ginny/Harry dustup, and signed on the dotted line.

"Now what are you going to do about him?" Penelope was pointing in the vague direction of where Percy had been shuffled off to.

"Nothing until tomorrow night. I want everyone to come up with a list of ten questions that you want him to answer. Get them to me at the bank by 4:00 pm at the latest, I'll cull the best ones and that's what we'll hit him with. Everyone on board?"

Everyone was indeed on board, even Penelope was nodding, she surely would have some of the most interesting questions to turn in to Bill. She immediately caucused with Bill and Fleur, as they held up their end of the bargain struck, and gave her the five minute primer on the Percy dilemma.

George and Ginny had been in a furious whispering conversation for the last minute, and then the one eared man sidled up to Harry and Hermione, while Ginny went to speak with Ron.

"Youngster, I'd like to house here for a bit if you don't mind. Ginny needs time away from Mum, and she's going to live at the shop. The living area is nice, but not big enough for two siblings to share, even Fred and I were a bit cramped in there." And George quite often had company in the evening, though he gave out no details when asked about it. He didn't need to add that Ginny wanted no part of living with Harry and Hermione, as civil as things had gotten with them lately notwithstanding.

"Sure, you're always welcome." Harry knew that having someone funny like George around would be nothing but good for Teddy.

"Thanks, we appreciate it. Ron's going to stick it out at The Burrow for a little while probably, we can't have everyone abandoning the parentals, even as dimly as they've behaved with Percy."

Harry was loathe to criticize a Weasley parent to a Weasley child, but this time George had opened the door for him:

"I'm sorry that they're hurt by all this, but they were so willfully stubborn about it, it's kind of pathetic."

Hermione looked at her friend:

"George, they believe that he's guilty now, right? I mean he did say it out loud, and that he doesn't know if he loves them or not." She was hoping that they would finally see reason and end this.

But George didn't think it would be quite so easy.

"Mum will say that he's just confused, and Dad will want no talk of it because it would hurt Mum. That's why Ginny's moving out right now, because she won't be able to hold back on verbally ripping Percy to pieces and them stomping on them."

"I'm sorry, but that's just not……."

"Healthy? I agree with you Hermione, but Mum is Mum and she's not going to change for anyone, even us. She feels that she has to love Percy all the more because the rest of refuse to. I'm a prime example. I'd take a curse for any of them, plus you two and Luna and Neville…….but I won't for Percy, and I'm not sure I ever would have. Would you?" He looked straight in Hermione's eyes.

"No, I'm sorry I couldn't either, even before these last few months." She was now somewhat irritated that her Percy project had ultimately turned out to be one gigantic waste of time.

Harry then made a decision:

"Oy, Ron!"

Everyone looked at Ron as he walked over, then went back to their own individual conversations.

"What's going on? Are you moving in here George?"

"Yeah, for the time being." George did not look that thrilled about his new situation, valuing his privacy like he did.

Then Harry prayed that Hermione would go along with what he was about to propose.

"You're welcome here too Ron, you know that right? Even with George and Teddy here now we still have empty bedrooms available." About three that he could think of off the top of his head.

Ron pondered that for a bit, but ultimately shook his head.

"Not right now, but let's see what Mum and Dad do about all this. Ginny's taking off, I can't abandon them right now, even if I think they're full of crap about Percy. But thanks though, I appreciate it." All of their collective eyes now turned to Ginny, Molly, and Arthur, as it seemed that the youngest Weasley was breaking the news to her parents.

The eruption came within about 45 seconds:

"You are not moving out young lady! And to live by yourself?! I will not have it!" That was Molly, and this day's strain really seemed to be getting to her.

Ginny was equal to the task:

"You have no choice, I need some space right now and this is the best way to get it. Just be grateful that I didn't decide to get a flat in muggle London. One Imperious Charm later and I wouldn't even have to pay any rent." Ginny had thought of this on the spur of the moment, and loved the reaction it got. She was relishing this first real fight with her mother, and would later reflect that it had been long overdue.

Molly's face was even more red than her hair, as Arthur tried to salvage the situation.

"Let's all just sleep on this tonight, and then tomorrow we can discuss it once things have calmed down." Arthur could see that the rest of the room was not even pretending not to listen to the three of them have it out.

"There is nothing to discuss, she will not be going." Molly didn't shout this, only because her previous episode had left her a little hoarse.

"Oh but I am, and you can't lift a finger to stop me. Remember the parchment? The moment you train your wand on me and fire, horrible things will happen to you."

Bill and Hermione had definitely not envisioned the parchment being used for something like this, but neither were displeased by the scene, as Molly tried one last desperate gambit.

"You work for your father at The Ministry……." She didn't get it out though, as Arthur held up his hands.

"Now Molly, let's not go overboard. I'm not going to fire Ginny for moving out, no, I think we all need to calm down." He really hoped that his calm would infect the other two, though Ginny hadn't done much that needed calming since whacking her brother across the face.

Molly had been challenged more tonight than in the last year combined, and now her heretofore whipped husband was piling on. There were many ways that this could go, running the gamut from threatening divorce to backing down completely, as the enthralled peanut gallery looked on.

And she sorely disappointed the rubbernecking throng, by striding briskly over to the floo:

"The Burrow!" And she was gone.

Ron turned to Harry as soon as she left.

"I don't suppose I could spend the night here tonight? I'd really rather not see what the aftermath is."

"I'll have Kreacher set something up for you."

Meanwhile Arthur was conferring quietly with Ginny.

"Ginny, I'm not going to ask you to apologize to your mother, but she is under enough stress right now without you saying 'I told you so' about Percy."

"Well that's what happens when she loves him more than she loves the rest of us. He's always been her favorite, her Percy, and look how he paid her back? Look how he paid me back!" Ginny's voice, unlike Molly's, was nowhere near hoarse, and it was rising with every word.

"I know, God knows I do, but the peace must be kept."

"I will no longer knuckle under to her, everyone in this family lives in fear of her anger, but I won't, not any longer."

"If you only knew how much you remind me of her when she was 18." Arthur's voice was rather wistful while saying that.

"Don't even try Dad. I'll come by tomorrow to get my things, but it's done. I should have moved out after graduation." Left unsaid was that she would have, at best, a month in WWW before George wanted his quarters back. So her muggle London threat might become fully realized before Halloween.

"All I ask is that you sleep on it, and think it over."

But Ginny had decided that even to give into that request, on the surface a reasonable one, would be giving ground. And so she vehemently shook her head.

"No Dad, I'm sorry, but my mind is made up. I'm not abandoning the family, I'm just doing what Bill, Charlie, and the twins did, nothing more."

Arthur didn't really have a good defense for that, even though he could have pointed out that Molly had vociferously objected to Bill and Charlie taking their out of the country jobs back in the day. After a few stiff goodbyes, one not being to his eldest son, he took the floo home to his house, and his wife.

Bill and Fleur were next.

"I need to write this up for Charlie, so I can owl him about all of this. Better that he hear it from me first."

"Aren't you supposed to see him in a couple of weeks?"

"A week from Saturday, he's really going to want to come home after this. Harry, you want to stop by for lunch tomorrow? We can figure out where we're going."

"I'm in a mood for cheeseburgers and chips."

"Sounds great. See you then." Bill and Fleur were gone, soon followed by Penelope, who was about to commence a sleepless night.

Luna decided that Ginny, after hearing about her brother manipulating her, needed some company tonight.

"Come along Ginny, I'll stay with you at WWW tonight, we need to talk about decorating your new place……when you get one." She added that last part hastily after seeing George's reaction.

"Sure, let's go. George, do you have any food at your place or are we going to a grocers?" She had seen the reaction too, and emphasized the 'your place' part of it.

"You're going to a grocers, I was supposed to tonight before Percy shat on our plans."

"Fair enough, and thanks again big brother." She hugged him tightly, and held back just as tight. She and Luna were soon gone, leaving the current residents of 12. George felt his stomach rumble.

"Hermione, come along and show me that pizza place where you went that time, I'm starving." He saw his brother perk up at the mention of food, though the 12 kitchen was very well stocked. George gave Ron just the barest shake of his head, telling him not to come, and the two of them left after a quick ascertain of what toppings were wanted.

Now it was just the three of them: Harry, Ron, and Neville. Ron had a question for Harry, having forgotten to ask Bill:

"Can Mum get out of that parchment thing if she wants?"

"She can, but I doubt Bill's going to let her. She has to use her want to erase her name from the list, and I don't think your brother is going to let her anywhere near it. Which one are you thinking of? The assaults one or the secrets one?"

"The secrets one, I don't think she'd try anything magically with Ginny. Like Ginny pointed out, she didn't really throw a nutty when the others moved."

"I don't know what Bill's going to do once Percy answers all our questions, but I gotta wonder at how things are going to be with him and your parents after all this is over."

"The same for you, it was kind of surreal to see you telling Mum not to give you any orders." It didn't seem like Ron thought it was such a bad thing either.

"Do you agree with Ginny? That it's time someone stood up to her?"

"I do, but there was no way I was going to be the one to do it. I would rather follow than lead normally anyway, but especially on something like that."

Neville had something to say on this too:

"I think this is what the Malfoys wanted though, to create a division within your family Ron. If they could hear any of what happened tonight, they'd be dancing a jig."

The three of them pondered the meaning of that for the next half hour, until the pizzas came back with George and Hermione. Then greed and hunger took over, putting their troubles away for a brief time.

End Chapter


	21. Switzerland

Tuesday, September 30, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:00 pm

It had been a long day for our players, though nothing of any real consequence had occurred. It was long because they all had Percy on their minds. Harry filled in Oliver and Katie before practice, but he was so busy during the morning that he didn't have much time to think about it all. But he made the time. Bill and Fleur at the bank, George and Ron at WWW, both duos speculated on the new way of things, the latter duo especially, since they didn't have Teddy duty. Hermione and Neville had it the easiest, they had classes to teach and take, respectively, and were mostly able to immerse themselves in them. In a large way it was hardest for the two Order members who had the day off: Molly and Penelope. Molly had the day off anyway, though she had been contemplating getting a part-time job if only to fill some of the hours. But today she puttered around her house, spending an inordinate amount of time in Percy's room.

Not searching it per se, though she did have a poke around, but instead reflecting on the day before. She and Arthur had conversed very little after their return home, and while she was still mad, she had not gone so far as to make him sleep somewhere else. She did not check Ginny's room at any point during the day, which was fortunate, as her daughter had returned in the wee hours to clean out her room. Everything was gone, from bed sheets to posters of The Weird Sisters on her wall. It was all in a pile at WWW, and she was going to take the weekend with Luna to start flat hunting in London, Luna now in the somewhat awkward position of being the best female friend to both Ginny and Hermione. But Molly didn't know any of this…….yet.

But while wandering around her home, mostly Molly wondered. She wondered what was in the future for her family. She pondered how things had gotten so divisive. Were the unofficial additions of Harry and Hermione the cause? They had been part of the Weasley family's activities for so long that they did feel like family, but did they really feel the same way? Was it always inevitable that they would gravitate toward each other romantically, breaking the hearts of her two youngest children? Or was she really the one to blame for her son's treachery? Had she indulged Percy too much as Ginny and Bill had suggested? She tried to love all of her children equally, but maybe Percy really had needed her more. And if that was the case, where had she failed?

It was a long day.

Penelope Clearwater was alone as well, she had been warned by Bill and Fleur that she could not talk about any of this with anyone not on the parchment. She did check her flat for Listening Charms, and was quietly relieved not to have found any, at least Percy seemed to have kept that part of his life separate. But mostly she just thought during her day off, with a brief interlude to see a movie that she had been wanting to catch. Which Percy was the one that was real? Was it the one that said that he loved her? It was not often that you could hear that love proven, but he had answered it under the drugs, so there it was. Or was the other one, the anarchist who disliked muggleborns, was he the real one? She suspected that it was a meld of the two, and that was what troubled her most. She did not prepare any questions as Bill had asked, she assumed that the others would think of all the political ones, and the personal ones were still in flux in her mind. Perhaps the others would ask those as well, she had been rocked to see that Neville, whom she barely knew of, was the one to ask Percy if he loved her. All in all she was very confused, and hoped that tonight would clear up some of the muddied waters.

It was a long day.

The scheduling gods had given Neville the night off, his instructor for Tuesday and Thursday nights was celebrating his anniversary, so the entire rump Order from the night before was back, plus Oliver and Katie. McG, Flitwick, and Slughorn were still not aware of the situation, more of a function of Bill not wanting too many cooks spoiling the broth than anything about not trusting them. He and Harry had debated tactics during their lunch, but both agreed that they would wait to see what Molly would do first. Bill loved his mother, and his father too, but their intransigence when it came to Percy grated on him the more he thought about it. Whatever happened with Percy this evening, there was going to be a Weasley reckoning coming close on the heels of it.

Flashback to 7:00 am

Harry walked into Percy's room with another dose of the sleeping draught to administer to him, a slightly smaller dose this time. He got there just in time to see his prisoner wake up. Percy was still bound in the ropes, and had made a bit of a mess, which was easily cleaned up by a couple of waves of Harry's wand. He wasn't gagged, but our boy wasn't interested in hearing from him yet, as he put a Silencing Charm on him as he administered the drug, good for roughly 11 hours or so. Once he ascertained that his 'foe' was sound asleep again, Harry sat on the chair opposite him.

"Now what the hell are we going to do with you Percy? We can't kill you, or even make you disappear. Your mum would never forgive us, and I wouldn't blame her. And speaking of your mum, how could you do that to her? Were you just so cheap that you couldn't deny yourself free room and board? At least Charlie moved to the other side of Europe when he couldn't take them anymore, there was no need to sham, to pretend. I don't blame you for chafing under her rule, I would feel the same way, but you never should have lied to them Percy. That's why most of us won't forgive you, not that you care probably. We mean nothing to you, we're just obstacles or inconveniences to be managed or ignored. And you mean nothing to us for the most part, except for your parents and Ginny. You'd better be glad that Ginny and Bill are on the outs a bit, otherwise he might let her do what you were hoping she'd do to me. That might be the best revenge if you think about, not that you can right now, being asleep and all. I just know that I can't do it, unless you insult Hermione again, I can't be pushed into that position by you and Draco and Lucius. It's pretty smart thinking, I can be gracious enough to admit it. By painting me as crazy, by giving me Teddy, you and your buddies have painted me into a corner that I can't get out of very easily. I guess I'll have to get creative, we'll see if that works out for you or not."

He got up and went to breakfast and to get Teddy set to go, leaving Percy to continue his long nap. Kreacher was tasked to pop in every five minutes to make sure that nothing was amiss, and indeed nothing happened, by the evening Percy had not budged a centimeter.

Back to present:

With Teddy taking a Kreacher supervised nap in his room, The Order watched as Percy awoke from his slumber. Aside from the brief interlude with Harry, he had been asleep for the last 23 hours or so. Bill and Neville assisted him, as the latter pinched Percy's nostrils shut, forcing his mouth open and some Pepper-Up Potion into it. Now he was fully awake, as his eldest brother eyed him:

"So, now that you are fully rested, do you have anything to say to us? To your family?"

"Sod off Bill." Percy had always been most envious of Bill, his brother had gotten top grades and a plum post-Hogwarts career, all the while being cool and very popular. His words were very tired though, a function of his extended nap, and did not crackle with any kind of contempt.

"That's it?"

"Sod off, please." Said with a hint of a Malfoy style sneer, he was a bit more awake now.

Harry, something of a student of the Lucius/Draco attitude himself, found this to be very amusing. He addressed him.

"That's the spirit. Now, one question before we drug you. Which would you prefer happen after this? We can kill you, Obliviate you, or hand you over to The Ministry. Three choices, all of which are easily accomplished. You can answer now, or think about for later, we'll be sure to repeat it under the Veritaserum."

Percy was indeed thinking about this, not liking any of the options at first blush, and declined to answer. In many ways Obliviation was the more dangerous of the two options that let him live, since that was a lot of information to get rid off, and might have serious cranial consequences.

Besides, how can you Obliviate beliefs? Percy would not have time to adequately mull this over, as Neville again pinched his nostrils shut, and Bill put the three drops of Veritaserum in his mouth. They were down to two doses, and Bill was dearly hoping that either Slughorn would make them more, or Percy would give them what they needed today.

He pulled out the piece of parchment, on which he had written the best of the questions given him by Fleur, Hermione, Harry, Neville, Ron, George, Ginny, and Arthur. Molly and Penelope had declined to offer questions, while Luna had told him that she had one question in particular that she would like to ask Percy, but wanted to do it herself. Luna was so helpful in other matters that Bill told her yes without a second thought. As with the day before, Luna pulled out a Dictation Quill to take notes of the proceedings, the last thing they wanted to do, if Percy was to be turned over to Kingsley and company, was to be forced to produce a pensieve memory. A pensieve memory replete with the dirty laundry of the Weasley family and it's closest friends. Bill began, he would be the sole interrogator for the most part:

"State your name for the record."

"Percy Ignatius Weasley."

"Where are you right now?"

"Number 12 Grimmauld Place."

Harry would have given much to be able to erase Percy's knowledge of his home's whereabouts, but the milk was already on the ground.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" A question written by Bill himself.

"Yes."

"When?"

"At the Hogwarts battle, some Death Eater." He sounded dismissive about it.

A loud sigh of relief from Arthur, he had thought perhaps that Percy didn't consider killing to be a crime, and that would not have surfaced the night before when asked if he had committed any.

"None since?"

"No."

"Have you ever used an Unforgivable Curse?" Another one from Bill's list, of the 90 questions submitted, well over half had overlapped in some way, including the last two.

"Yes."

"When?"

"A few years ago, for Fudge."

"Which curse?" It could only be Cruiciatus or Imperious.

"Imperious."

"Against whom?"

"David Walleband."

A gasp from Arthur, and everyone looked at him.

"Walleband was on the Wizengamot, a powerful force on it as well. He died in one of Thickneesse's purges." And he died very badly.

Bill took note of that, and pushed on.

"What did you instruct him to do?"

"To follow Fudge's lead with every vote, it wasn't that hard. He might have been influential, but he had a weak mind."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I was ordered to of course." Even under the drugs Percy sounded incredulous that Bill would even ask.

"Anyone else? Any other Imperious times?"

"No."

"Any Cruciatus?"

"No."

"Did Fudge, while you were working for him?"

"No, he didn't have the magical power to use it, or so he told me." Not a surprise to find out, Fudge always struck people as an arguer, not a fighter.

"Was Lucius Malfoy paying him off while you were working for him?" Asked by seven of the nine people submitting questions.

"Yes."

"How much?"

"It depended, Fudge's retainer was 10,000 galleons per month, plus bonuses for assigned tasks and extra good information." That kind of money was more than any person in magical Britain made in salary for a month, at least officially, a powerful motive.

"When did it start?"

"Well before I got there, Fudge never gave me a specific date.

Percy had, like Anson Parkinson before him, come to the decision that cooperation was his best avenue here, and so he gave more detailed answers than the drugs were making him give. The last thing he wanted to have happen was one of these amateurs experiment on him with their limited Obliviation skills. In the very limited time he had to think about it, mostly when Bill was pausing for breath or looking at other people, Percy chose the path of least resistance. He even thought that there might be a fourth option that Harry had neglected to mention:

Forgiveness.

After all, his mother was in the room, and she wouldn't let them do him any harm. No, Percy was sure of that much at the very least. At worst he would be turned over to Kingsley,

"Did you give Fudge information on Harry before his trial for underage magic?" This was not, ironically, a Harry question, it was submitted by Hermione.

"Yes, I told him as much about Potter as I knew. It wasn't much, but I had picked up a few things over the years."

"And the rest of us? Did you tell Fudge about us too?"

"Not really, he already knew about Dad, and didn't care about the rest of you."

"How much did you deal with Dolores Umbridge?" Now THAT was a Harry question.

"She was there when I briefed Fudge, but I never had any meetings with her one on one."

"Did you really expect Ron to turn on Harry when you wrote that letter to him?" No guesses on who submitted that one.

"No, but I had to try with one of you, and he had betrayed Potter before out of jealousy. He was the most likely candidate."

"How did you react when he turned you down?"

"I didn't think much of it, Ron was only worth recruiting for the effect it would have on Potter, he wasn't worth much at the time on his own merits."

Ron did not react like Ginny had the day before, instead he just smirked. It was the smirk of someone who had not only refused to take the bait back in the day, but was also not the one who was tied up and singing like a canary in the present day.

"Did you ever try a similar approach with Charlie?" A spur of the moment thought from Bill.

"No."

"Your anarchist thoughts, did they start when you were at Hogwarts?"

"No, I was very pro-Ministry back then."

"At what point did you start to change?"

Another answer that could not really be forced out by the drugs, but Bill had noted the cooperative Percy and wanted to see how far his wayward brother would go to curry favor.

"After Dad tried to talk me out of becoming Fudge's assistant I began to look at The Minister more closely."

"And you figured out that he was an idiot?" That was Ron, who just couldn't resist.

"Fudge most certainly was not an idiot, he was a limited man who knew the full extent of his limitations. There is much to be said for that Ron." Stated very pointedly, and indeed more than one person in the room thought that Percy's description of Fudge also fit Ron reasonably well. Ron was still smiling though, and made no move with either his fist or his wand.

"You were saying Percy? About you looking at Fudge more closely?" That was twice Ron had declined to take a shot, but Bill wanted no part of three time's the charm.

"I realized that Fudge was nothing more than a willing tool of whomever was willing to pay him the most money, idealism mattered nothing to him. It was the same with most of the Department Heads, aside from Bones and a couple of others, and they were easily marginalized."

"Were other Department Heads on the Malfoy payroll?"

"I assumed as much, but I never knew officially."

"Whom did you assume was?"

Percy rattled off the names of about half the Department Heads that worked for Fudge back in the day. A couple were still in place, but most had been killed during Voldemort's time of power.

"Did Fudge really believe that Voldemort had not come back?"

"No, he knew the entire time that Potter's friend had returned. But Malfoy paid him extra in order to keep the fiction going. He probably would have been willing even without the money though, since it gave him a wedge against Dumbledore."

"He hated Dumbledore?"

"Hate is too strong a word, and vastly overused, given it's true definition. He was jealous of him, knowing that the old man could have his job with a snap of his fingers. Dumbledore may have stated that he had no interest in the job, but Fudge always found those denials a bit flimsy and half-hearted."

"Did you have direct contact with Lucius back then?"

"I was in the room, but I was instructed not to speak unless spoken to. Fudge wanted a witness to what was going on. Besides, Lucius always had one as well."

There were a few more follow up questions about Fudge, and they learned quite a bit about the former Minister. Then Bill shifted tack to another subject.

"Were you involved with the planning or execution of the death of Andromeda Tonks?" A Harry generated query.

"No."

"Did you know about it ahead of time?" Bill kept one eye fixed on Harry while he asked, something that was not lost on Percy.

"I knew that there was to be an assassination of some sort, but not of who." Which was exactly what Anson Parkinson had told them, meaning that Lucius had kept the details very close to the vest.

"What did you think after you heard about it?"

"I thought it was very clever, given who was to get custody of the child. But I was not consulted ahead of time." His eye now moved toward Harry.

Harry was not about to assault Percy again unless Hermione was insulted, but he was pleased to see that there was a worry about it. But he said nothing, his wand was still in his pocket.

"Have you ever placed a Charm in The Burrow before the three Listening Charms you admitted to last night?" Bill asked an Arthur question, veering quickly off of Andromeda, sensing that everything had been answered.

"No."

"Did you ever want to?"

"I offered to for Fudge, if he wanted me to pretend to reconcile with you people, but he declined. He said that you lot weren't important enough to spy on, except for Potter, and he was rarely at The Burrow anyway."

"You were willing to pretend to reconcile with us?"

"Yes, didn't you hear me?" A bit of the usual Percy there, and it was not appreciated.

"Are you a virgin Percy?"

Huh?

"No."

"Have you ever been with anyone sexually, besides Penelope Clearwater?"

"No." Now Percy was very red, and people understood what was going on.

"Good, now if you don't want more questions like that, keep your snide attitude to yourself, while you still can."

Penelope was red too, though she didn't really have reason to be. Still, it was a question that she wanted to have answered, though she would have been far too embarrassed to put in on a piece of paper for Bill to see. There was no giggling, but smiles could be seen from pretty much anyone under the age of 30.

Which was everyone but Arthur and Molly.

"Did Malfoy have an arrangement with Rufus Scrimgeour?"

"No, he resisted all entreaties. But he made no effort to try to neutralize them."

"Why is that?"

"He was hoping to stay on as puppet Minister, he thought that if he took no money, they would be more inclined to keep him on."

"And they didn't buy that did they?"

"They knew he didn't share their ideals, and since he didn't want the galleons, they just assumed that he was on your side."

"Do you know of any Malfoy approaches to Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"No."

"To Gawain Robards?"

"No, they vilify him every chance that they get. They may hate Potter more than anyone, but they respect him more than Robards."

That bothered Bill more than anything Percy had told them, politically. He wondered if all of that was too convenient, this smear campaign against Gawain Robards. Was the man really so salt of the earth that he wouldn't take the Malfoy money? If they offered him half of what they had offered Fudge, it was still a load of money. They had bought Fudge, neutralized Scrimgeour, and magically controlled Thicknesse……so why wouldn't they do the same with Robards?

"Do Kingsley and Robards think that you're working for them?"

"Yes."

"How did that come about?"

"I volunteered for it, once I made my agreement with Lucius."

"When was this?"

"In June, that's when I made my deal."

"What are you getting out of it? What did Kingsley promise you?"

"Once the Malfoys go down, I am to be moved to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as one of their administrators. It's a two level promotion, with more money and prestige."

"Why did you agree to this?"

"To help Lucius, to give him another inside person. Besides, if he lost, then I would still come out ahead."

"And you haven't been given any Veritaserum by Kingsley, just to make sure?"

"He tried, but he was attempting to be subtle about it. I vanished it out of my glass during lunch in the commissary, but pretended to imbibe. He bought it."

He sounded quite smug about it, and Bill had to admit that for once, he had cause to be. After a few more procedural questions about how much Kingsley thought he knew, Bill wrapped things up.

"Okay Percy, the drugs are going to wear off any second, and our important questions have been asked and answered. We're not going to debate in front of you, but if there is anything you would like to say now, you have the floor."

"I apologize for any hurt I have caused my family, and for not appreciating you as I should have. I would of course not want to be killed for what I've done, nor do I think that my actions, even seen in the most negative light, deserve my death. Obliviation too would result in my death, because Lucius and Draco would kill me the first time I didn't cooperate. So I ask for forgiveness, for a chance to make things right. I'll swear whatever oaths you want, sign whatever parchments you ask me to." He said no more, but gave a long look at Penelope, the one person in this room that he knew that he loved.

Bill thought it wasn't a bad little speech, and gave it a moment to sink in for the 'jury' that would pass sentence on him, of a sort. He then put a Stupefy into his brother, and motioned for Harry to come with him as they led Percy from the room.

Flashback to 11:00 am

Number 25, Knockturn Alley

This was the unofficial London address for Malfoy Enterprises, which dealt with, as Penelope had surmised, various importing and exporting responsibilities. Not all of the products were magical, though most could not be called 'legal' in any sense. It helped that The Ministry did not acknowledge the force of muggle laws.

Draco was doing paperwork for the business, not all of his time was spent plotting against his foes, when his father came gliding through the door to his son's office.

"What are you working on Draco?"

"Our quarterly tax assessment, it's due on Friday. Why?" He was still scribbling on his piece of parchment as he asked, not looking up at his father.

"We may have a slight problem."

"Which is?"

"Percy Weasley did not come to work today, he is 'sick'." A slight emphasis on the last word.

Draco put down his quill and looked up.

"So? What makes you think that he isn't?"

"You remember the questioning we gave him a few months ago, the man has never called in sick in his time at The Ministry."

"It's one day Father, what are you implying?"

"I'm saying that we need to be very careful. Weasley does not know much, but he knows enough to give Potter and Bill Weasley insight into what we are doing."

Lucius did not look what one could call 'worried', but it was close enough to that to give his son a moment of pause, as well as a moment of realization.

"There's something you're not telling me, what else is there."

"I wonder at the timing of it all. This, combined with your mother acting a little strange…..well it smacks of too convenient a coincidence."

"Acting strange? In what way?" He had not noticed anything, not that he had been trying to really.

"Not strange so much as distant."

"Since you had Aunt Andromeda killed I take it?"

"Yes."

"Can you blame her Father? You killed her sister after all, and without telling her in advance. I would expect some coldness from her for awhile. Are you saying that you suspect her of treachery against us?"

"No, she has passed every Veritaserum test." Lucius gave both is wife and son, without them knowing it, a spiked drink at least once a week. Draco was not aware that he himself was being tested, but Narcissa did, and took no chances.

"And Simmons and his people have seen nothing?"

"Other than her spending a lot of time in the bank, no."

"Bill and Fleur Weasley work there, could she be meeting with them?"

"She has passed every test." He sounded just a bit less confident of that than he had seconds earlier when he said it for the first time.

"Then what are you worried about? If Percy reports sick again tomorrow, we'll start poking into it then, but until then I think you're letting your guilty conscience get the best of you."

"I do not have a guilty conscience!"

"Evidence to the contrary Father."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, then the elder Malfoy left his son to his accounts.

Back to present:

Bill and Harry brought Percy back to his pseudo-prison cell, and after knocking him out with a couple of well placed Stunners, Bill stopped his friend from leaving.

"We need to talk about what's going to happen now."

"We're not having the vote? I thought that was all planned? I know they're expecting one."

"What do you really think of Robards?"

Harry didn't answer him for a tick.

"So that's what you were going for with those questions?"

"Yes, and I wonder whose side he's on."

"Haven't we always agreed that he's on his own side?"

"What if he's on the Malfoy side?"

"What if angels sat on pinheads Bill? I mean how can we know? Him, we can't just kidnap." Even Harry was not so bold, and he knew that he was a hair bit bolder than Bill.

"I know, but would turning Percy over to him be a wise move while we doubt his loyalty?"

"He's the Minister mate, we're the ones who are vigilantes."

"Until he comes after you, which he will."

No one knew that better than Harry, but he started fidgeting anyway.

"We'd better get back down there, they'll think that we're plotting something. Which we are. I guess you want me to vote against turning him over."

"I think it's a wrong call right now."

"Okay, get to me after a few people and I'll come up with something."

"Fair enough, and thanks."

Once they were back downstairs, Bill looked at the assembled members.

"We now have a decision to make: What to do with Percy? As you heard, we have four options:

"Killing him."

"Obliviating enough to give us some peace of mind."

"Turning him over to Kingsley for official judgment."

"And finally, qualified forgiveness, followed by a quick Percy signing of our two parchments and another whose composition I'm playing with in my mind. I'm willing to put this to a vote, and if the choice is clear, we will go with it. If we're close to a tie, then Harry and I will go to our missing three members at Hogwarts and break the tie." He paused for a moment to let all of this sink in, raising his eyebrows as if to ask if anyone needed clarification.

Harry then asked something of them:

"Does anyone have a fifth option?"

Again, silence. Bill nodded at Harry, and then turned to Neville.

"Neville, where do you stand?" He was hoping that someone as analytical as Neville would be able to shape the debate before things got too emotional.

"I don't think Percy's crimes, such as they are, warrant killing him. Nor does he deserve forgiveness, even a qualified one as Bill suggested. My vote is for giving him to Kingsley, after extracting some kind of concession from our enigmatic Head Auror first. That's where I come out."

"Oliver?" Bill was going to get to the Weasleys last if he could manage it.

"Bill, how sure are you that you can Obliviate him enough to do this right?"

"I'm not, and for me it's the least viable of the options."

"Then I'm with Neville, turn him over to The Ministry."

"Katie?"

"Obliviate him, and see if he can change. But only do it if we can move against the Malfoys soon and end this. I think if we do that, then the Obliviation would work."

"Interesting……hmm…….Luna?"

"Forgive him, and make him sign the parchments. Make the third one so restrictive that he has no choice but to deal himself out of the coming war, if it ever gets that far."

"Penelope?"

"None of the options is perfect, or even close. But I agree with Luna." She would say no more, and reflected that this was the first time in a long time she had had common cause with Luna Lovegood, a former Housemate of hers for two years. But for her there was no choice, she couldn't see him Obliviated, arrested, or killed.

"No, none of them are perfect, hence the vote. Hermione?"

"Make a deal with Kingsley." Hermione thought that there was no other clear option, but would not argue the point any further.

Bill took a deep breath, and turned to the last non-Weasley.

"Harry?"

The entire room wondered which way Harry would go, and the betting money, if there would have been any, would have leaned toward the killing him option.

"Forgive him, but make the third parchment banish him from Britain except for Weasley weddings and Arthur's and Molly's funerals."

To say this surprised pretty much every Weasley was putting it mildly. Molly actually started smiling, since she knew that a second ballot, entirely possible here, would probably push things Harry's way, since most of the previous voters would go along with what he wanted. Arthur too was surprised at how relatively magnanimous Harry was being, and the surprise indeed showed on his face.

Which Harry read accurately, and his contempt for the Weasley parents increased by a few degrees. This did not bode well. Bill continued on with the roll call.

"Fleur?"

"I was going to say kill him, but I agree now with Harry. Banishment." She was going to say nothing of the kind, but merely wanted to see the look on Molly's face when she said it.

And it was priceless.

"George?" The one person Percy had not insulted in the family so far during his questioning.

"See what kind of deal you can make with Kingsley, but if he won't make one, then I agree with Harry."

"Ron?"

"Obliviate him. If that causes problems for him down the road, then he made his own bed." Ron too wanted the killing option, but he wasn't going to be the first to voice it.

"Ginny?"

Ginny was in a pickle here, she could either agree with Harry, or Hermione…..neither of which she found to be especially palatable. She still held that grudge, though she was now regretful that she had lost her cool with Harry that way, given Percy's machinations. After spending a brief second raging that for once Harry and Hermione couldn't agree and help her out, she reluctantly came to a decision.

"Cut a deal with Kingsley, we might as well gain something out of it."

And then there were three: Molly, Arthur, and Bill himself.

"Dad?"

"What's the tally so far?" He had been thinking so much about it, that he hadn't really been keeping track.

"It's five for turning him over, two for Obliviation, and four for qualified forgiveness." Bill referred to Luna's Dictation Quill, which was still taking notes.

That made Arthur's decision rather easy, he and Molly would make it at worst a tie.

"Forgiveness without banishment, but I agree that a third parchment needs to be created and signed."

"Mum?"

"The same." It was very quiet, but firm. She would not give these people the satisfaction of begging for her son's freedom, such as it would be.

This did bring Bill up short, he was expecting a passionate argument of some sort. But he managed to hide it.

"Okay, before I vote: Katie, Ron, your pick is not going to prevail here, do you want to change your votes to one of the others?"

"Hand the git over then, but at least pretend to threaten to kill him first, to send him a message." That was Ron.

"Banishment I guess." Katie didn't much care for trying to make a deal with a Ministry that might, or might not, be compromised.

"Okay, that's six for turning him over, and seven for qualified forgiveness. I for one never considered killing him to be a true option, and I'm glad that no one chose it. I vote for qualified forgiveness."

Molly had just opened her mouth to start to argue……..but then she heard what he said. But she wasn't sure.

"What did you say Bill?"

"You heard me Mum, but I agree with Harry and the others that he should be banished. Remove him from Britain, so we can not have to watch our backs constantly."

"So you're not forgiving him at all, you're just trying to pretend he doesn't exist." Molly hadn't really taken the banishment threat seriously when Harry suggested it, but now that she saw other people nodding along, she started to panic a bit.

"I wish he didn't exist, but that wasn't my call. You had seven children Mum, and only one turned out to be a bad apple. That's pretty good if you ask me, you have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Whoever said I was ashamed!? I love all of my children, and so does your father, at least we're the only ones in this room who can say that our love is unconditional!"

"I'm not going to apologize for not caring about the one person in this family who's never rarely cared about the rest of us! This is his bloody fault, not mine, not Harry's, no one else's! He's the one who tried to turn Ron against us, he's the one who briefly managed to do it to Ginny! Who knows what he might have come up with next? Killing one of us and framing another for the crime? And that doesn't even go into his idiotic anarchist beliefs. No government, no one to tell us what to do, it's hogwash. When was the last time any of us in the room were forbidden to do something we really wanted to do? The only things that stop us are morals and lack of money. But that's not enough for Percy I guess."

"And banishing him is going to solve that? And you're talking forever, aren't you?"

"He's not going to change unless it's forced on him, and I'm talking a long time, sure. We could kill every Malfoy supporter right now and more would just grow in their place. It took how long for Voldemort to be gone before the Malfoys started up again? Less than a year, if you count them following Harry around in Hogsmeade. Less than a year."

"He can change better if we can keep an eye on him. Besides, how will he live if he's forced to emigrate? Is Harry prepared to subsidize him?"

"Hey now, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about me as if I'm not in the room." Said in a not so nice tone of voice, but she was equal to it.

"That does not answer my question."

"I'll buy him a train ticket to France, that's it. Let him see how the muggles do it."

Bill had anticipated this.

"I have some contacts in Switzerland, from my Egypt days. One of them owns a mixed muggle/magical business dealing with commodities. She told me that if I ever needed a favor, just to let her know. I owled her this morning." The woman in question, whom Fleur knew all about, had come closer to being Mrs. Weasley, the next generation, than anyone else in the room knew about. But they had parted good friends, and she had been at Bill's and Fleur's wedding two years previous.

"This woman would hire Percy?"

"If I ask her to, yes, I believe she would. I won't lie to her about the circumstances, I'll just leave certain details out. He won't have to beg for his bread by the roadside, nor rob any muggles."

Arthur had been ready to object to this whole enterprise before hearing this, but he now knew that this plan would carry the day. His only possible tactic would be to insist that McGonagall, Flitwick, and Slughorn be asked to weigh in, but that would only be a delay. Slughorn would do what Harry wanted, and other votes would switch too. He could see his wife revving up to argue some more, but put his hand on her arm.

"Excuse Molly and I for a moment." He gently, but pointedly, led his wife into the kitchen, where they could talk.

"Enough Molly, we need to stop fighting this."

To her credit, Molly kept her voice down.

"And abandon our son?"

"We're not abandoning anyone dear, we're acknowledging that he did wrong and is being punished. If we do it their way, then he gets to live his life in a beautiful part of the world and not be involved in any of our drama. Would you rather he be turned over to Kingsley and questioned a lot harder than Bill did? All Percy lost was a little hair, he'd lose a lot more if the Aurors get hold of him, especially after they found he has been double crossing them all this time."

"I can't believe that it's come to this." Again, no shouting, and she now seemed resigned to what was to come.

"We should be happy that they are being so gentle with him, he has given none of them reason to be that way. We made mistakes too Molly, we indulged him for too long, and now the penalty has to be paid. Better that it be before someone else dies. We've already lost Fred, and Charlie chose his exile. Now we're losing Percy in a way, but we can still go there, we can still meet him on the Channel coast somewhere. If that's to be, if that's what he wants." He had his doubts about that, and only barely let them surface to his wife.

"Okay, I won't argue anymore. But I want one thing."

"Which is?"

"Let's go back in there, I'll tell them."

The two of them walked back in, and Molly addressed them.

"Arthur and I won't argue any longer, but I want Percy to be given the choice of going to The Ministry."

Most of the room looked at Molly like she'd totally lost it, and Harry just couldn't help himself.

"That works for me, if he wants death over banishment, who am I to stop him." He waited for no reply, and Oliver followed him as he went up to get Percy.

Percy was brought back down, though he was not tied up this time, and Harry addressed him.

"Percy, we have agreed that you should be banished from Great Britain for the rest of your life, aside from the funerals of your parents, and the weddings of your five siblings, should they marry and want you to attend. You'll be set up with a job in another part of Europe and we won't give Kingsley access to you before you leave." He paused, seeing how that went down.

And it went down very well, Percy looked and was dumbfounded. He looked at his parents, and could tell from their expressions that Harry was not making fun of him.

"I don't know what to say."

"Then say nothing at all, at least we know it won't be a lie. However, your mother wanted us to offer you the choice to stay in Britain, with one small catch." Harry was getting into this now, and was more determined than ever to find an amateur theater company he could join. He could see that Molly didn't like how he phrased it either, which made it that much juicier.

"A small catch?" Percy was a bit confused.

"You would be Kingsley's guest for awhile."

"Come again?"

"You can stay here and we would hand you over to The Ministry. Maybe they'd let you out of prison in 20 years, maybe not. But it's your choice."

Percy just stared, aghast, at his mother. Was she serious in thinking that he would want that? But he didn't say anything, fearful that anything nasty or incredulous would change the deal on the table.

"I'll choose exile." He kept his tone in the realm of polite, given that his scalper was talking to him.

"Your lack of thanks is noted. We'll give you the rest of the week to sort out things at work, with Tracking Charms from more of us that you can count on one hand shadowing you. You'll go to work, and go home, that's it. Any questions?"

"What about Penelope?"

"Totally up to her, and I'll even throw in a bonus. Hermione and I will go to the muggle bookstore near here and pick out some language tapes for you, to help you settle in." Bill had not said which part of Switzerland they were sending Percy too, so he would have to wait to get them.

Percy, for himself, had doubted that he would be sent to Ireland, so he assumed that a new language would need to be learned. He was a smart guy, it couldn't be that hard could it? He looked to his erstwhile girlfriend.

"Will you come with me?" The look in his eyes pleaded with her to say yes.

She looked at Harry.

"Just so I'm clear on something: I'm not banished, whatever I choose, right?"

"Of course not, you've done nothing wrong. If you decide to leave with him, you can come and go as you please, no restrictions." He looked to Bill for confirmation, and the other man was nodding his agreement, though there would be no job arranged for her.

She turned to the Weasley parents.

"Molly, Arthur, I would like to come have dinner with Percy Friday night, just the two of us, so we can talk. Would that be okay?" She wanted no part of an audience for that talk either.

"Of course dear, Arthur and I will make other arrangements." Molly really liked this woman, and hoped that even now, she could be seeing her future daughter in law.

Percy looked very grateful, and looked at everyone.

"Thank you for this, I really do appreciate it."

End Chapter


	22. Molly Weasley

Tuesday, September 30, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

7:00 pm

Harry and Bill untied Percy, though they were not quite ready to give him his wand back. Instead they took him into the kitchen, where Kreacher was making dinner for the lot of them, ignoring them all as per his standing instructions.. Fleur had just taken the floo over to Gringotts to get the two parchments that were ready, the special one would be written after dinner.

"Okay little brother, you understand the deal, right?" Bill had never used the term 'little brother' when directly addressing Percy, even as children.

"You've explained it quite well Bill. Where am I going next week?" He sounded genuinely curious, as well he should.

"A friend of mine is going to give you a job, but I'm not going to tell you where until I get confirmation of it." He knew that he was in big trouble if his friend didn't come through for him, but there was nothing to do but plan for the good anyway.

"Just tell me what language I'll be learning."

"Fair enough, think German." He didn't mind throwing his little brother a bone.

Percy immediately thought of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and didn't think any of them sounded like a bad option.

"Okay then. What am I to do about my current job?"

"Tell the truth tomorrow to your Chief Scribe, just leave details out. Tell him that you have an opportunity on the continent that you have accept now, or you might lose it for good. All of which is true." Bill, very consciously, took a cue from Harry and tried to fill that last sentence with a little menace.

It worked even better from Bill though, the scars added a little something to it.

"And what do I tell Kingsley? He's bound to hear about it." Now Percy sounded a little concerned.

"He can't arrest you for leaving your job, and if he slips you a drink, just do what you did the last time."

"It's so easy for you to say that."

Not a bright thing to say.

"Hey, I'm not the traitor here Percy, remember that. You did your double or triple dealing, whichever you call it, at your own risk. And you haven't lost a thing. Whatever my friend pays, it'll be more than what you make at your legitimate job now, and you won't be risking your skin. Too much."

"Too much?"

"Just don't get mouthy with the muggles, some of them don't take kindly to it."

"I have to deal with muggles?" He sure didn't like the sound of it.

"Oh poor baby, yes you do."

"I really despise you Bill, you and your boss here." Now a little of the bitterness he felt seeped through.

"Of course you despise Harry, he ripped your hair out. I got a kick out of it personally." Bill had a large grin on his face, he easily dismissed the part about Harry being his boss.

"I hope that comforts you when you look in the mirror. No wonder you two are friends, both with the scars."

WHAM!

A Bill shot to Percy's jaw, with fist not wand, put the younger man down on the kitchen floor quicker than any Stupefy could have. The sound reached the living room, the kitchen door not being closed, and Molly and Hermione came a running, both fearing the worst.

"What happened?!" Molly knelt by her on the floor son, a nice bruise was already forming on his cheek.

"Tell your favorite son that he needs to watch his mouth about peoples' war wounds." Bill was the strongest of the Weasleys not named Charlie, and his technique hadn't been half bad either.

This said it all, and for once Molly did not defend Percy. She didn't even flinch at the shot about her 'favorite son'. To his credit perhaps, Percy didn't try to make a scene about it.

Hermione merely looked at Harry, who shrugged as if he had had nothing to do with it, which was the truth.

"Now little brother, do you understand your instructions?" Bill was at his most friendly.

Percy got up, under his own power, and rubbed his bruise before answering.

"I do: Go to work, come home, don't deviate." He said it very flatly, he was not eager to get punched again.

"Exactly, I'm proud of you. If you do deviate, then the deal is off, and we'll either kill you or hand you over to Kingsley, whichever we feel would be worse for you."

Now Molly didn't like that one bit, but before she could rev up, Bill left the kitchen. One look at the big smile on Harry's face was enough for her, and she led Percy out of there too. Hermione just looked at her beau:

"He cracked on your scars I take it?"

"Yes ma'am, I guess he wanted to be hurt some more." He had already told the story about Narcissa and George's ear to anyone who would listen.

"What did Bill say to get him to say that? One assumes that he was provoked somehow."

"Bill made a hair comment." Harry said it as if it was no big deal.

Hermione didn't mind that a bit, since it was the insult to her that prompted the near scalping. She was a long way past trying to get Harry or Ron to leave it alone.

"I'm surprised that you were so easy on him, with the banishment." She had tried very hard not to show a visible reaction when he said it, but only because she had been expecting a vote for killing or Obliviation. The idea of Harry forgiving Percy was one that she had all but dismissed out of hand.

"It's my last gesture to Molly, sparing his life. Kingsley would peel him like an onion, or Robards would have just turned him loose. Either way it wouldn't be right."

"Your last gesture? No Burrow Christmas then?"

"Not for me, though you're free to do as you wish." He gave her a grin, as he started to move to the door.

"Oh no, you're not ditching it without me there buster."

They left Kreacher to his cooking, it smelled like Italian of some sort, and went back into the living room.

Where it was more than a tad tense, as conversations were quiet and subdued. One of the conversations they saw was George and Ginny. A very quiet conversation.

"You really haven't told Mum and Dad yet?"

"They'll find out soon enough. And I'll be out of your place by the middle of the month, I promise."

George's eyebrows raised a little.

"You were serious about that rent paying strategy?" It was the only way though, Ginny didn't make much as an entry level Ministry employee.

"It's what Dean told me he does."

"Say what? When did you talk to Dean?" His danger signal went up.

"Oh this was before all this business happened. I haven't seen him since he was kidnapped and all that." Not that she wanted to, Harry's replacement would come from somewhere else.

"You should tell them now, while there are witnesses."

"They can't do anything anyway George, and I'd rather not provide any entertainment for the masses."

"You really need to let that go little sister." George knew who she was talking about.

Ginny looked at Harry and Hermione, who were huddled with Ron and Neville, about topics unknown.

"I am George, it's better every time I see the two of them. And I wasn't talking about just them." She even sounded like she believed it.

It turned out that the topics unknown were mostly about Ron staying at 12 until Percy left.

"I don't want to be in that house with him if I don't have to be. I feel so cheated that Bill got to slug him and I didn't."

"You're welcome for as long as you like mate, you know that."

"Another five days should do it." And it was about all Ron could take, he was aware now that Hermione had all but moved in.

Neville had an idea, that would solve a few problems.

"Are you thinking of getting your own place, like Ginny is going to? Maybe even with Ginny?"

That had not actually occurred to Ron, not that he had given it much thought. He and Ginny got along better now than they had since before Hogwarts, and there were ways of ensuring privacy. He made a decent wage, certainly more than Ginny's, they could afford a halfway decent muggle lifestyle. Lavender might prefer that too, now that he thought about it. She wanted no part of The Burrow and the famous Molly Weasley grilling that would occur.

"That's a great idea, I'll have to talk with her about that. Tell me Harry, how hard would it be to do some magic in the grocers? I mean you could walk out of there without paying, couldn't you?"

"If I wanted I guess, I could just shrink the stuff. I mean I don't, because I don't need to." He added that part hastily after seeing Hermione's reaction.

Neville had a follow up:

"Don't go to one of the larger places and do that though, they'll have security cameras operating. I'm sure it would violate some sort of Ministry ordinance if you were caught doing magic on camera."

Neville then spent a couple of minutes explaining what a security camera system, and Ron was fascinated. Neville concluded with:

"It's nothing more than what Gringott's has up probably, except that the muggles use batteries and electricity."

They looked over at the floo, as it was firing, and Fleur tumbled gracefully out of it. She extracted the parchments from her pocket, and they were explained to Percy. He signed them, the only way to get his wand back, and Fleur flooed back to the bank immediately.

It was a stiff and formal dinner, and Kreacher made another caustic, but quiet comment about so many Weasleys in attendance. Kreacher, if pressed on the matter, would say that he liked Bill, who was sufficiently scarred up for his liking, but the rest he could have done without.

Though Harry had no interest in pressing his crotchety house elf on that or any other matter. Still, Kreacher behaved, even around Hermione……especially around Hermione.

Percy was sent home with Molly and Arthur, wand in his pocket, with a warning to go forth and sin no more. At least for five more days, after that Bill was less concerned.

Wednesday, October 1, 1999

6:00 pm

The Burrow

Percy made it through his first day back at work unscathed. It helped that the Wizengamot was in full session with a couple of major trials to deal with. Nothing Death Eater related, more along the lines of corruption and embezzlement, but Percy was still occupied all day. He had told his boss, right before the first trial, that he was leaving……and his ego was disappointed to see that said boss made no effort to talk him out of going. He merely said:

"Well I wish you well Percy, we'll begin interviewing for your replacement tomorrow afternoon." He did stop short of whistling a happy tune though, even if there would be no plans for a going away party.

Not that way Percy was hoping to leave, though he knew that he would be leaving one way or the other. He ate lunch inside the courtroom, and if Kingsley knew of his resignation then the Head Auror either didn't care or had bigger fish to fry.

He returned home to find that a raging argument was ongoing:

The emptying of Ginny's room had been discovered.

Mostly it was just Molly ranting, she had gotten enough rest the day before that her voice was back to full volume. She was now demanding that Arthur threaten their daughter's job to get her to come home, and her loving hubby was resisting it just as he had Monday night. Percy had not heard any of the earlier drama, but he still was now having a hankering to see mainland Europe on a permanent basis. The fighting stopped as soon as they realized he was home, the screaming had disguised the firing of the floo, and dinner was actually quite peaceful. Percy didn't bring up Ginny, or much of anything else, as Arthur droned on about work.

It was about an hour after the meal when Bill came over. He stiffly said hello to his parents, nodded to his brother, and gathered them all in the living room.

"I got a letter from Mareke, my old friend. She is happy to offer Percy a job, starting a week from Monday. She has someone leaving their post, and you can take his place. Harry and I will give you a little extra spending money so that you can spend the week sorting out living arrangements and get acclimated to your new city." That money would come from Harry, with Bill owing him a non-Order based favor to be named later.

"Where am I going?"

"Zurich, Switzerland. That's why I said German, though it's Swiss-German and most of them likely speak English anyway. We'll have the language tapes for you tomorrow night, along with a spell that will allow you to play them here without any magical interference. No Dad, I won't tell the spell to you." It was Bill's attempt at a joke, but it fell flat, as his father's smile could at best be called faintly polite, and he said nothing in reply.

"What will I be doing there? What kind of job?" Percy could not care less about jokes and whether anyone else in the room was happy.

"Mareke will explain everything, it's her family firm and she's in charge of the day to day management of it. She was and is a good friend, and I expect you to treat the situation correctly. The wage is in Swiss francs, muggle money, and is just shy of 50 percent more than you're making now." His hope that this would liven up the room was dashed, as his brother all but ignored it, save a raising of the eyebrows.

"What if I decide I want to leave? Am I to be yoked there for the rest of my life?" A totally fair question.

"No, if you leave in good standing with her, you can take off whenever you like. Just know that you can't come back here to Britain, that's your only restriction. But if you screw her over Percy, I'll come hunt you down."

"You and your threats Bill." He tried to sound bored, and it almost worked.

"Just pray that Mum and Dad live long lives, it will seriously prolong yours." A more blatant threat had rarely been let loose in this kitchen.

"Do you have that parchment for me to sign, I would rather not have to see you again." He did leave out any scar comments this time, so his face remained free of new bruises.

"You're not that lucky though, since I'll be here Sunday to make sure you leave. We'll escort you to the train station, and one of us will be on the train to France to make sure stay on it."

"I'm not taking a portkey?"

"No you're not, a train ticket is cheaper and the scenery is a lot prettier. We'll pay for Penelope's ticket as well, if she decides to come along." He had not seen any conversations between the two after the deal was reached.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"She seems very nice, I hope you treat her right." He handed over two train tickets, from London to Zurich, which he had purchased on his lunch break.

"What do I do with the other ticket if she doesn't come?" Percy, like Bill, was assuming that she would, but the new Percy tried to prepare for various eventualities.

"Then you'll have one more chaperone to Paris, and we'll scalp the rest of it there. We leave here at 7:30 am on Sunday, be packed and ready to go." That time effectively eliminated Harry, Katie, and Oliver from chaperone duty, and likely Hermione and Ron as well, since the train ride would interfere with Puddlemere United v. Chudley Cannons.

Percy took a deep breath:

"Is there a way around this Bill? Is there any arrangement that you would be satisfied with that would let me stay here?"

Bill pondered that for a moment, mostly to analyze if Percy was asking for himself or if this was a performance for Molly and Arthur. But he decided that his brother deserved a fair answer.

"Not right now Percy, sorry."

"Look, I know that you people chose the path of least resistance and all that, and I am glad you didn't give me to Kingsley……but isn't there a parchment that can be rigged up? Beyond the one you've got for me now?"

Bill's reply was more reasonable than one might think.

"It's not about that brother, and you know it. If we left you here, you would have to continue your activities for Lucius and Kingsley, and have to satisfy them both in order to stay alive. Added to which, we know all about you now, and I don't want to put your life in danger like that. Just remember, whatever you think Harry and I 'would' do to you in theory, Lucius and Draco…….well they'll actually do it, and laugh the entire time. We're saving your life here."

"For mum and dad, you're not doing it for me."

"True little brother, and I'm pleased to see that you're so realistic about it. You screwed up Percy, and we're giving you what the muggle financial people call 'a golden parachute'. You said thanks the other night, and I won't ask for more of it. But you need to accept your exile for now."

"I really can't come back except for a wedding or a funeral?"

"Yes, and that wedding can include your own, given that you're the only one of us with the potential for one in the near future." He left out that he would surely drug Percy to make sure that the wedding was on the up and up, he thought that that would be fairly obvious. But he liked Penelope, and did not want her to have to drag her family out for a Swiss wedding.

"Okay, I won't argue with you any longer."

"I appreciate that. Now if you'll sign where I've marked." He took out the third parchment. It was very simply stated, Percy could not return to the island of Britain without a signature on this same parchment by two of the following four people: Harry Potter, Bill Weasley, Neville Longbottom, or Oliver Wood. The last name was on there because Bill and Harry had both come to treasure the man's cool head and outside perspective. For his part Percy barely noticed the names on it, he read two of four and just assumed that none would agree. He signed it, and then went upstairs without excusing himself.

Bill got up, pocketing the parchment.

"Is there anything you need to say to me?" No challenge in his voice though, as he faced his parents.

"We have a lot to talk about, when this part is finished." Arthur said that, and immediately regretted it, hoping that Bill wouldn't want to have the conversation now.

He didn't.

"Once Percy leaves you mean?"

"Yes." Perhaps a touch of relief in his voice.

"Whenever you want. Are we talking just the four of us?"

"Four? I would rather not have Harry with us, if you don't mind." He was happy to learn that he had read his son incorrectly though.

"I don't mind Dad, but I was thinking more along the lines of the three of us and my wife. Since I tell her everything, it would save me the trouble later on."

Arthur did not look the least embarrassed that he had thought Harry not Fleur, but Bill did have the pleasure of seeing his mother flush a bit. She said nothing though, as her husband mildly replied.

"Of course Fleur would be welcome." Like there was a choice, but Fleur was as much a Weasley as Molly was.

"I wonder though, with this whole 'Harry is my leader' thing, did you two infect Percy and Ginny, or the other way around? Something for you to think about." He discreetly checked his watch, Harry was probably sipping wine right now at his class, and Bill thought that he could use a drink himself.

"If only it was that easy Bill, and you do seem to be under his influence more than the rest of us."

"If that makes you sleep better at night, go on believing it. The rest of us know the truth of the matter. Goodnight." He was suddenly very tired of dealing with these two people, and without another word, or waiting for another from them, he took the floo back to his home. He had gotten what he came for.

Friday, October 3, 1999

Ministry of Magic

11:45 am

Percy was just finishing up his paperwork for the morning, and about to go to lunch, when there was a tap on the open door. He knew that he was the only one in the office at present, the others already being at lunch, and didn't look up as he said:

"Yes?"

"Hello Percy." The deep baritone voice that belonged to Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Percy looked up, and did everything he could not to gulp. A look at the clock on the wall told him that he had missed by a bit more than five hours getting out without a scene.

"Hello sir."

"It's Kingsley, though I gather that we won't be working together after today?"

"Yes Kingsley, you're right. Today is my last day." If only he had called in sick again, no one would have missed him.

The larger man closed the door behind him, leaving it just the two of them, Kingsley didn't bother with a security detail inside the building.

"Why is today your last day Percy?" Said in a tone of inquisitiveness, Kingsley was friendly with everyone he dealt with, not just Harry.

"I would rather not talk about it sir, it involves a family matter." Percy had no real hope that this would work, but in the nights since the agreement on his exile, he had not come up with a plan on how to deal with his spymaster, so to speak.

"Ah lad, if only it was that easy. You need to level with me."

So Percy decided to, at least a part of it.

"I am having difficulties with my sister and brothers, to the point that remaining here has become intolerable for all of us. Bill has arranged a job for me with one of his friends in Zurich, I leave on Sunday."

Not his best effort, and Kingsley saw through it immediately.

"They caught you I guess."

"Caught me?"

"Doing your work for us and the Malfoys."

"Yes they did." It was the truth of course, and Percy did feel a little better getting it off his chest.

"How did they do that? You're a smart man Percy, and of your family only Bill and his missus are in your league. How did they get you?" He was hoping for an interesting lie.

Percy had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"Your pet Potter, he planted something and found out some of what I was doing. Threats did the rest, you know how he can get." He didn't dare get too specific in his lies, for fear that Kingsley would drug him, or the parchment would torture him, or both.

"They told you to leave, or else?"

Now this, Percy was sure, would violate the parchment. So he kept absolutely still, no movement, while again mentally cursing himself for not leaving early on a last day where no one would miss him.

"Percy?"

Still nothing.

And then salvation arrived.

His father, and Percy had never needed him more, or been more grateful to see him.

Arthur tapped on the door lightly, a door that was rarely ever closed, and without waiting for an answer, walked right in.

"Hello there Kingsley, I was hoping I would find you here."

"Really, why is that Arthur?" Kingsley hardly thought that this was a coincidence.

"Amos is in an argument with Leonidis about budgeting, and your name is getting brought up a lot. I was hoping that you could rescue him." Tanner Leonidis was the Ministry Comptroller, the bane of every department for his budget conscious ways, though he did have the government of solid financial footing for the first time since early in Fudge's reign.

Kingsley wasn't sure whether this was a bluff or not, but the last thing he needed right now was interference with his department's galleon flow. Diggory wouldn't last long against Leonidis, so he got up to leave.

"Thank you for the heads up Arthur, I'll stop by after lunch Percy, we can continue our chat then." Without waiting for goodbyes, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Arthur waved his wand at the door, locking it. He walked over to Percy's desk and scribbled something a spare bit of parchment.

_Leave now, floo home and tell your mother what happened. I'll come by after my lunch meeting and we'll figure out what to do for the next two days until your train leaves. Get moving._

The Leonidis thing had not exactly been a bluff. Arthur had anticipated Percy needing some rescuing, and thought that lunch was the best time for Kingsley to corner his son. So he asked his old roommate for a favor, and the Comptroller was only too happy to comply. The note was for the multiple Listening Charms that the elder Weasley knew were listening.

Percy was sufficiently scared that he did little more than nod, and quickly took the floo back to The Burrow. Arthur spent a tense lunch with his two deputies, and took his leave as soon as politeness would allow. Ginny was out of the office on an afternoon long errand for him, so she would not have to be told anything. He got home to find a somber Percy and Molly eating lunch.

"Well we seem to have dodged it a bit. But it won't keep, Percy……I'm sorry, but I don't see any other option than asking Harry to put you up for the next two nights. His house is impenetrable unless they really want in, and…….well it's the easiest thing to do."

Molly had come to the same conclusion over the last 30 minutes, try as she might.

"What about Penelope, she and Percy were supposed to have dinner here tonight?" Indeed Molly had spent part of the morning shopping both for tonight's dinner, and the potential going away dinner the next night. Now she was facing the unwelcome prospect of having the going away dinner at Grimmauld Place, and seeing Harry's increasingly mocking looks at her.

"She and I can go into muggle London and go to a restaurant Mum. Only you people have the Tracking Charms on me, right Dad?" Percy managed to make the 'you people' not sound like an insult. The snide Percy was gone for the next 40 hours or so, he most certainly did not want the deal to change.

"That's right son, but if I might suggest Edinburgh instead. The Ministry has no presence in that city, and it would add a layer of safety." For some reason Edinburgh had never been a hub of magical activity, indeed it had only produced four muggleborn Wizards or Witches in this century.

"I'm sure she'll be fine with it. Will you go tell her Mum? It's probably best that I don't leave Potter's, if he lets me stay." He was already dreading that scene, and the groveling he would surely be forced to do.

"Of course dear, but first we have to find Harry. If I remember his schedule correctly, he should be out of practice by now, let's just hope that he chose lunch at Hogwarts today. I'll go now. Get your things packed while I'm gone, I'll be back in a few minutes." She walked over the floo:

"Mister Potter's office!" The Burrow was directly connected to all Hogwarts floo fireplaces. She left, and Arthur was right behind her.

"I need to figure out what I'm going to tell Kingsley, and hold him off if necessary."

"What if Mum can't find him?"

"Then we'll go anyway, and pray that Kreacher doesn't have orders to kick us out. Floo me when you get to Harry's, and I'll pop over." Arthur then took the floo back to the office.

Molly arrived in Harry's office, her first trip to it, and was unsurprised to find it an empty shell with a few toys scattered on the floor. A brisk walk to the Great Hall found the Hogwarts folk in the middle of dessert, and thankfully Harry was sitting next to Hermione in his usual spot at the faculty table. Molly stood in the doorway for a moment, hoping that she could catch someone's eye without having to do a perp walk in front of the assembled students.

It was a good plan, because it worked. Hermione saw her, and poked her beau in the ribs, and jerked her head in Molly's direction.

Harry's stomach dropped just a little bit, and it was not from the blueberry pie that he was devouring. He got up and, as nonchalantly as he could, walked over to the doorway. He eased through it, and closed the door behind him.

"What's going on?"

"Kingsley paid Percy a visit." She stopped, hoping that he would figure out the rest.

"And? We knew this was going to happen." Indeed a not so small part of Harry had been hoping that a panicked Percy would spill a secret and violate the parchment, giving all and sundry a view of it's penalties.

"Well Percy cannot answer most of Kingsley's questions can he." She then summarized Arthur's machinations.

"So we would appreciate it if you would allow Percy to stay at Grimmauld Place until the train leaves Sunday morning." Molly successfully managed to walk the fine line between groveling and asking politely.

Harry pondered this for a moment. It was really only one day and the rest of this one, he and Hermione were planning on hitting London with Neville and his Auror classmate to be named later……but did he really want Percy around for even 36 hours? He temporized for a tick:

"What did he say about this? Percy I mean."

"He would appreciate it as well, and I promise you that he will be on his best behavior."

"And the Penelope dinner?" Like any rubbernecking kind of person, Harry wanted to see if she would stand by her man, in a sense.

"In muggle Edinburgh, though I would like to have our final dinner together tomorrow night. All of us, including you, Hermione, and Neville of course. You're all family." Saying that last bit was not quite as difficult for Molly as singing God Save the Queen with a mouthful of caramels would be, but it was awfully close.

"Okay, with a few conditions, I'll go along with it."

Of course there are a few conditions, a suddenly exhausted feeling Molly thought.

"Name them."

"He sleeps there, and that's it. I don't want him in my home when I'm not there. If he needs somewhere to hang out tomorrow, I'll give him some cash to spend in London or Edinburgh while I'm here supervising Quidditch practices." Not that he did much supervising, he mainly caught up on some reading, as well as his working on his twice monthly column for Europe's largest Quidditch periodical. It was a lucrative new gig for him, and mostly accounted for his financial generosity toward Percy this week.

Molly didn't think that that condition was so bad, and was nodding her head.

"I'm sure that would be fine. What else?"

"I'll agree to the dinner, though I'll speak with Hermione and Neville about whether we'll attend…..but no more Percy favors Molly. Don't you or Arthur be asking more from me for him that I haven't already agreed to this week. I've reached my limit." He tried to sound reasonable as he said this, but a tinge of bitterness did seep through.

"I don't really know what to say." Molly did sound a little lost.

Harry did know what to say, it had needed saying for quite some time. Only now did he have the cojones to actually come out with it.

"Your agreement would be nice. I don't like you and I being at odds, I swear to you, I don't. But things need to change. You need to stop viewing me as the little boy who didn't know how to get on to Platform 9 ¾. I'm an adult, in both this world and the muggle one, and it's time you began acknowledging that." Voice still reasonable, but the bitterness had been replaced by an almost plea…….but a plea that Molly seemed to miss.

"Perhaps it would be easier for me, if only you hadn't broken my daughter's heart, and turned my eldest son against his parents."

Now Harry was faced with a choice of his own: Go at her with both, proverbial, barrels; or acknowledge that things were broken and move on.

"I'm so sad that you have such a low opinion of Bill, that you think that I could manipulate him into doing something like that, even if I wanted to. Which I don't." He paused there, hoping that she would at least walk the Bill comment back.

"Of course you would deny it, since it suits your purposes to have him out there as your front man." Shades of Ginny, which is where she had gotten the line.

"And did I turn Ron and George against you as well? Or Charlie for that matter? He moved away long before I was more than a notation in the history books to you."

There was nothing she could say to the Charlie part, and didn't even try. So she decided to embrace the confrontation rather than shy from it.

"Arthur and I have agreed to a meeting with Bill and Fleur about the fissure in our family."

"I know, he told me about it." He then immediately thought that perhaps he shouldn't have said that.

Molly could all too easily believe that Bill would confide in Harry.

"I think it best that you and we part ways after this business with the Malfoys is settled."

Harry had suspected that something like this would come up eventually, but now?

"Who is 'we', exactly?"

"The Weasley family, at least our branch. This discord must stop, and it would be easier to do so if you and Hermione were not so involved." There, she said it, and it felt good letting it out.

Just a few minutes earlier, she had spoken of the two of them, and Neville, as family. Harry was hard pressed not to laugh at the absurdity of it.

"And you honestly think that you can make this stick with your children? The ones who have all moved out on you, rather than be stuck with you and your chosen one?" Now there was more than that tinge of bitterness in his voice, Harry was getting pretty mad at her blaming him for her problems. Added to which she had just asked him for another Percy favor, and he had agreed, without too many onerous conditions too. The ingratitude that seemed to radiate from her was really setting him off.

"We are a family, and blood will win out in the end. I know my children, even Ron and Ginny, far better than you do Harry. They will make the right decisions."

"I really despise the way you're making me into the villain here Molly. It makes you look so small, like you can't even begin to notice your own shortcomings as a mother, let alone try to fix them. You have your meeting with Arthur and your children, and I'll accept whatever decisions that Bill, Charlie, George, Ron, and Ginny come to, without argument or complaint." Harry didn't think for one second that Fleur would choose Molly and Arthur over him.

Molly chose to focus on the attack, rather than Harry being reasonable, as Hermione, unnoticed by them both, eased through the door. She had been wondering what was taking so long.

"What would you know of shortcomings of parents? Petunia and Vernon Dursley were hardly models of any kind of parenting."

Harry felt his blood starting to boil at having the Dursleys, who were totally not his fault, being thrown in his face in any way. But he tamped it down.

"I've heard all the lectures and such that I care to hear from you Molly. Ever. Bring your idiot son over to my home at 11 pm, no earlier. But if he puts one toe wrong, I'm going to give Kreacher another perk to being in my employ. And he does not like Weasleys." He turned and walked away, toward his office. He had to floo back to 12 to make sure that Kreacher did not admit anyone that he shouldn't.

Hermione just looked at Molly like she wanted to smack her, but somehow held off.

"Well congratulations, you finally did it."

"Did what?"

"Made Harry dislike you. I swear Molly, for someone usually so friendly, you haven't a clue how to manage people."

"Manage people? I raised seven children I'll have you know! And there were no problems until you and your fellow home wrecker came along!" Now her blood was up for real.

"Oh yes, and you did a bang up job with all concerned. I don't know what you said to Harry, though I'm sure I will when I catch up to him, but you really need to stop this insanity. You are not the leader of anyone but your husband, and he made his choice years ago. You disgust me." Without waiting for another word, she walked quickly after Harry, hoping that he was going to 12. Checking her watch, she saw that she had 11 minutes to stop him from doing something rash, before her next class.

Molly just stood there for a moment, wondering how things had gone so wrong after a simple request. And how was she to get home now? Certainly Harry wouldn't be too pleased to see her again so soon if she tried to use his office to floo back, likewise Hermione. So she walked to the front door and left the old fashioned way.

After a quick Apparition to Hogsmeade, she took the floo home via The Three Broomsticks.

Arthur was back as well, still brushing the powder off. Percy was just finishing The Daily Prophet.

"Well Molly, is it all set? Did you find him right away."

Now she was having some doubts, thinking that perhaps she had gone too far.

"I did find him, and Percy is welcome at 11:00 tonight." Her voice sounded a bit sad, and her son and hubby both picked up on it.

"Why do I get the idea that there was another argument?"

Ordinarily Molly would have wanted to speak with Arthur alone, but Percy was leaving the day after tomorrow, there was no harm in him hearing any of this.

"I'm afraid that there was, and I said some things that I probably shouldn't have."

After a quick check to see that Percy wasn't enjoying this, outwardly, Arthur turned back to his wife.

"Are they things that cannot be unsaid?"

"I don't know. I told him that we would all be better off if he and Hermione were no longer a part of our lives."

Arthur said nothing at first, instead he turned toward the wall so that neither his son, nor his wife could see the expression on his face. While facing away, he queried.

"And how did he react to that?"

"He does not believe that I speak for our other children." Other than Percy, whom she knew would be happy to never see Harry again, no need to ask about that.

"You don't, that's why you should not have said it." Arthur had finally turned back toward his wife, and his tone was one of semi-gentle reproach.

"I know that I should not have sad it, and I'm sure he does not believe that I mean it."

"And why is that?"

"Because Percy is still welcome there tonight. His only conditions were that Percy not be there if Harry himself is not, and that you and I ask him for no more Percy related favors."

"And it was the last condition that set you off I imagine." Give him this, the man did know his wife.

"Yes, and I am sorry." She even sounded sorry too.

Percy, at first a bit irritated that he was being talked about as if he was not present, soon began to enjoy his mother's discomfiture. He harbored no real ill will toward the woman, but found it very amusing that her unofficial adoption of the troublemaker was now crumbling around her. Still, he kept his mouth shut, just in case.

"So am I Molly, so am I."

"I'll fix this, I promise. Everything will be all right once we settle things with the Malfoys."

"We can only hope."

"Why did you come back so quickly?" Wanting to change the subject if she could.

"I needed some distance between myself and Kingsley, like Percy, I can't tell him everything that he wants to know. Now Percy, do you have enough money on you for your dinner tonight? Do we need to go to the bank?"

"No Dad, I'm fine. I'll need to go there tomorrow to empty my vault, but that's all." He wouldn't close the account, officially, just in case things took a turn for the better for him.

"Good enough. Now I'll go to Flourish and Blotts to talk to Penelope about tonight. I talk to McDavish this morning, he gave me the names of a few restaurants that you two might enjoy, none of them need reservations and are all quite reasonably priced." He fished out a spare bit of parchment and handed it to his son.

Percy looked at it for a minute, not recognizing any of the names of course, as he had never been to Edinburgh.

"This one, have her meet me outside The Three Broomsticks at 7:00, we'll Apparate and floo from there.." He pointed to the most interesting sounding name, hoping that the food was decent.

"I'll tell her. Now that's a few hours away of course. Are you packed?"

"I am."

"Good, now get your things down to the living room, I'll bring them by Harry's tonight. Then you disappear for a bit, might I suggest that the two of you visit a library or something like that, in muggle London. It will keep you occupied and out of harm's way." He said this more as an order than a suggestion, and he was including Molly in there too. The last thing he needed was her trying to mend fences with Harry, and presumably Hermione, and botching things even further than the considerable level to which they were already botched.

To her credit, Molly did not argue, and went to get her coat. Percy too did as instructed.

When they were back.

"After you talk to Penelope, are you going back to the office?"

"Not if I can help it, I'm caught up for the day. No, I'm going to go talk to our daughter in law and see how we can fix this."

"Why to Fleur?" That was Percy, who while knowing that he should keep quiet, just couldn't help himself.

"Because in her own way, she's more like Harry than any of us: magically powerful, smart, with a chip on her shoulder. She'll rub my nose in this mess the entire conversation, but at least she's objective. Now, off with you both." In truth he didn't think Fleur would be so objective, the Frenchwoman looked at Harry like the brother she had never had, but he still felt that it was the best place to start.

Percy and Molly did as they were told, and spent a modestly pleasant few hours trolling around one of London's many libraries. Molly returned home to find that her husband was still out, nonetheless she began dinner, hoping that he would clean things up.

Penelope and Percy met up with no problems, and after a few awkward moments in Hogsmeade, were soon comfortably talking as they walked over to the floo in The Three Broomsticks.

But they had company. Draco Malfoy was in the house.

"Hello there Percy. Surely you weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?"

End Chapter


	23. Sayonara, It Means Adios

Author's Note: It's never been stated in canon, to my knowledge, but I'm going to operate here on the assumption that all businesses and homes have wards against Apparating inside them. From them sure, you can Apparate, but not inside, too much potential for nasty mischief. Oh, the chapter title is my favorite all-time line from the show Happy Days, courtesy of Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita, who played Arnold.

Friday, October 3, 1999, continued

The Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade

7:05 pm

"Hello there Percy. Surely you weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" Draco was at his snide best, finally living up to the example of his father.

Penelope didn't know whether to scream or draw her wand, but Percy had been ready for this somewhat.

"You didn't get my owl? I rented the fastest one at the post office." He knew that the Malfoys had people on the Ministry payroll that he didn't know about, so it was not a shocker that they would know he was leaving.

"It must have gotten lost. You really should have come over personally, being a valued employee and all." Draco liked the backtalk, it proved that he had picked the right Weasley for his plans.

"I thought it best to just go quietly."

"Ah, but you knew that I wasn't going to allow that though. Come with me Percy, quietly, like you said. You do that, and your little woman here will be allowed to leave, unmolested." That word, in this context, had multiple meanings.

All of this was being done with little or no attention being paid to them by the pub's other patrons. Indeed Draco was speaking in a normal volume of voice, and even had a butterbeer mug in his hand.

"No thank you Draco, we'll just floo off to dinner now. No need of you to put yourself to any trouble." Percy's voice was just a little higher than usual, though only Penelope really noticed.

"It will be trouble for the two of you, if you don't come with me right now. I'm afraid that I won't take no for an answer." He moved his butterbeer mug to his left hand, and took his wand out with his right.

Draco Malfoy hadn't even had his wand out.

Of course neither had Percy or Penelope, but they hadn't been expecting any fireworks. Nevertheless, they took theirs out too, Penelope uttering her first words of the confrontation.

"We're going to leave now Malfoy, get out of our way."

"Let me think. No." He snapped his fingers loudly, and four men from a nearby table, who had not noticeably been eavesdropping, got up and walked over. They blocked the view of everyone else, and with Draco in front of the fireplace, retreat and advance were both cut off.

"Anti-portkey wards have been set up, and I would seriously advise you not to try to harm my friends here. They don't have my restraint or sense of fair play." Yes, he was loving every second of this, especially given that one of his troops had put up a Silencing Bubble. Only the seven of them could hear the conversation.

"And if I don't come quietly?"

"Then you'll come loudly, but either way, you have a date at Malfoy Manor."

There was, however, a slight hitch to Draco's plans:

"Are we invited too ferret?"

Draco knew that voice, and to his utter surprise, he saw the faces and drawn wands of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and special guest and perhaps girlfriend of Neville, Lisa Turpin. Turpin was a muggleborn Ravenclaw who had started school with Harry and company and was currently a classmate of Neville's in his Auror training.

"How in the hell……." Draco hated this feeling, being caught off guard by Harry Potter.

Harry noticed this, and it filled him with a delight that he couldn't really describe at the moment.

"Did you really think that we were going to let Percy loose on his own, knowing what we know? And we do know everything Draco." Harry said this with a friendly smile.

They didn't know everything of course, and Lisa knew nothing other than she was getting a chance to pay Draco back for some mudblood comments of years past. She had been the one to dissolve the Silencing Bubble almost as soon as it had been put up.

"Why wouldn't you let him loose for us? Please let's not pretend that you care about Weasley here Potter, I doubt you can lie that well."

"Oh you would be surprised at what I'm capable of Malfoy. Now, since we do outnumber you six to five, I think we'll all be going our separate ways. Come along Penelope, Percy." He couldn't wait to rub Molly's nose in this later on.

"Take one step Weasley, and you'll be very sorry."

That there was only one person in the pub who would answer to the name Weasley was a very deliberate choice on the parts of Harry and Neville.

"I've been sorry for a long time Malfoy. Goodbye." Whatever Percy thought about Harry in a negative way, he knew that his erstwhile antagonist could fight. So he assumed that he was out of the woods.

Until one of the Malfoy goon squad members raised his wand.

"Stupefy!"

The Stunner slammed right into Percy's head, dropping him like a shot, though thankfully not faced first to the ground.

And the firefight began.

The battle for our heroes kicked off a bit haphazardly, as Harry, Penelope, and Lisa all targeted Goon 2, immediately rendering him comatose, but it did leave Draco free for some mischief for a brief moment.

He let loose a couple of Bone Breaker Curses right at Percy's chest, shattering his sternum and breaking a side of his ribs with the second one. His three awake retainers were being pounded to jelly by Harry and company, Malfoy fils was being shielded by his men as he managed one last shot at Percy.

"Gevarlo!"

The purple light shot straight at Percy's mouth, and caused his teeth to all fall out. He had read about, and practiced, this curse with just this kind of confrontation in mind, though he had been planning to use it on some fellow with a scar on his forehead. Speaking of whom:

"Goodbye Potter!" Draco squeezed an unknown object in his pocket, and disappeared.

A portkey.

The goon squad had just gone down for the count, all of them put down by a mass fusillade of spells from our non-Percy heroes. The fight had attracted quite a bit of attention, and DMLE personnel were soon called for. Since Draco Malfoy was involved, Kingsley was informed, and arrived within five minutes, the magic of the floo and a Head Auror who was working late dealing with his paper pile.

He set his people to interviewing the pub's patrons, all of whom claimed that they saw very little. The floo fireplace, where the action took place, was in a relatively out of the way spot, so they heard a lot more than they saw. While all this was ongoing, Kingsley took a long look at his young friend, as Robards called Harry.

"Who fired first Harry?" He was not so much worried about the battle details as he was about the appearance of how things had gone down.

"That guy." He pointed to one of the figures on the floor.

"Paul Cook, someone on our watch list, and not a known employee of the Malfoys. What did he fire?" Cook was a mercenary for hire, one of many that had sprung up after the demise of Voldemort. The were the modern versions of old time highwaymen.

"Stupefy, right at Percy." Harry knew that more curses had been fired at Percy, but in the excitement he didn't hear exactly what they were.

Percy was being tended to by Penelope, who looked up at Kingsley.

"He's got a lot of broken bones, he needs a hospital." There was a slight hint of panic in her voice, only part of it feigned.

Kingsley could see that Percy was pretty racked up, and fished in one of his robe pockets. He took out a muggle hair tie, an incongruous object for someone with a bald head to have on him.

"This is a portkey for St. Mungo's, into the private section. Tell the Medi-Witch or Medi-Wizard on duty the word 'shortstop', that will tell them that this is a Ministry sensitive case." Shortstop was, of course, an American muggle sports term, one unlikely to be used by your average magical person in Great Britain.

"Yes sir, just let me clean him up a second first." Penelope turned her back, and with a little slight of hand, put Kingsley's portkey in her pocket and pulled out another one, supplied by Bill. After using her wand to wipe most of the blood off, she grabbed Percy's wrist.

"Activate."

And they were gone.

Kingsley, satisfied that one problem had been satisfactorily dealt with:

"So Harry, you just happened to be here when all this went down?" He was very interested to hear what story Harry had concocted.

"Of course not, we knew that this was where Percy and Penelope were meeting, and the likely interception point if Malfoy was going to try something." He had very quickly decided that the truth played a lot better here than any lie could.

Neville interjected.

"We weren't loitering though, we were in the middle of dinner." He pointed to a table that was relatively near them, with four half-eaten plates on it. A nice touch.

"And the Malfoy people didn't notice you sitting there for that long?"

"Okay, we might have had some Glamour Charms on, sure." Harry did his level best to appear somewhat humble.

"You didn't think of deterrence perhaps? That Malfoy wouldn't try something if he knew you were here watching?"

That, in fact, had occurred to both Neville and Harry, and Neville responded.

"Well it might have deterred him into plan B, which would not have been so obvious. He would have done something sir." The sir part because Kingsley was technically Neville's boss, though many layers of people were in between them on the totem pole.

Harry chimed in.

"And it did work, you have to give us that. You have four of them in custody and only Percy was injured." He adopted what he hoped was his most helpful facial expression.

Kingsley, for once, was fully on board with them, and was now only very weakly playing devil's advocate.

"They're going to say that you provoked them." But it was weak provocation and he knew it, it would never hold up in court.

"But you'll use Veritaserum and see that they weren't. Or we could just chalk this whole thing up to a misunderstanding and not charge anyone with anything. You don't need to worry about Percy pressing charges." Harry would make sure of that much at least.

Kingsley pretended to ponder this for a moment, he had already decided to sweep this under the rug as much as he could, the last thing he wanted was a series of trials for this mess, with full media coverage by The True Voice and a still recalcitrant Daily Prophet.

"Fair enough, but I want you to tell me one thing first."

"I'm listening."

"Where is Percy going?"

Harry had not signed the secrecy parchment, so he could answer.

"Switzerland."

"He leaves tomorrow I'm guessing?" Nice and out of the way, but Kingsley knew that he would have plenty of time to question Percy once he got to St. Mungo's. Or even after Percy went abroad, as long as he registered with the magical government in Switzerland, as all magical people were required to do when in a foreign land.

"Something like that." Harry rationalized that Kingsley had only attached one question to his conditions.

"All right then, but sometime soon Harry, we're going to have to have a little chat you and I."

"I'm sure that would be educational for us both." Said in a bland manner than in no way indicated Harry's reluctance to do so.

Kingsley had one last riposte as he left them, he had every intention of questioning the four in a very in depth manner.

"You know, I like you more since you've matured Harry, you have a dry sense of humor that you lacked back in the day." He didn't wait for a reply and collected his people, who had determined that the patrons of the pub knew very little about anything.

Neville turned to the others:

"Let's get the hell out of here, now."

Nods all around, and they got in the floo, one by one, and took off for Hogwarts, and then on to Bill's cottage, as the cottage had a very limited floo connection, by design.

The cottage is where Percy and Penelope happened to be.

The alternate portkey that Penelope had used took her and her boyfriend to a meadow, less than half a kilometer from the cottage. Said cottage was not difficult to find, given some simple directions, and within minutes she and the magically levitated along Percy were inside, where Bill and Fleur were appalled at Percy's injuries. Penelope related what little she knew of the melee, including her own spells cast, ending with:

"I don't really know what happened, but Malfoy didn't even try to throw a curse at any of us, he only targeted Percy." That fact filled her with a rage she had rarely felt in life.

Fleur was examining her brother in law.

"He needs help now, I have some skills with this kind of thing, but he needs potions that we don't have."

Penelope, surprisingly, had an answer for that.

"One of my former roommates from Hogwarts is a Medi-Witch at St. Mungos. I know she doesn't work nights because of her kids, I think she could help us." She had been thinking about this while Kingsley was questioning everybody.

"Is she discreet enough? We don't want anyone blabbing to Kingsley about your little subterfuge." Just because Bill had anticipated something like this happening, did not mean that he was happy about yet another looming confrontation with the Head Auror.

"She has no love for The Ministry, I can tell you that. All of their regulations and nit-picking." St. Mungo's was a quasi-public facility that was only partially Ministry funded, and the strings attached to those funds were the bane of the personnel at the hospital.

"What about the potions needed?"

"You'll need to nick those from somewhere." She was sure that the criminal minds of Bill and Harry would have some sort of idea of where to get them.

"Have we got half an hour?" Looking at Fleur when he said this.

"Without him dying, of course. But he needs to be seen to."

Bill then motioned to Penelope.

"Go get your friend, and I'll figure out the potions."

"I'll be back in a few." She took the floo out of there.

Fleur looked at her husband.

"Harry's map of Hogwarts I take it?"

"Penelope doesn't need to know everything now does she?" He liked that his wife could read his mind in these kind of situations.

"Certainly not, I will be back with it in a moment." Fleur too flooed out, leaving her husband alone with his brother.

And with a decision to make: When to tell Molly and Arthur? Or perhaps even if he should tell them at all. He mentally railed against Harry and company for taking so long, but looked up when the floo fired.

It was Fleur, she had gone right up to Harry's room and grabbed the map. Bill laid it out in front of them.

"I guess it's way too much to hope that Pomfrey has a date tonight. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He grinned at the idea of McGonagall's sister, as he thought of Pomfrey, having a boyfriend.

The map activated, and to Bill's pleasant surprise, Pomfrey was nowhere near the Infirmary. Bill hunted for her, unused to the map though he was, but couldn't find any sign of her in the castle. He was interrupted in his looking by the floo firing again, and it was Harry, Hermione, Lisa, and Neville. Harry's first question:

"Did they get here all right?" He could see Percy, but was wondering where Penelope was.

"They did, Penelope is hunting us up a Medi-Witch, an old roommate of hers. Where's your Invisibilty Cloak?"

"At home, not one meter from the map Fleur." He took a wild guess at who had gotten it, though he was smiling to show that he was not mad about it.

"Well excuse moi for being short sighted Harry my friend." With grin right back at him.

"You're excused."

"Go get it if you don't mind, we can't go anyway until Penelope comes back, we won't know what to take." While he was saying this, he was looking for Slughorn on the map, and was not finding him either. So he asked.

"Where might Slughorn be right now?"

Harry and Hermione were the likeliest to know, but they didn't have a clue as the floo fired yet again.

Harry was there and back as quickly as Fleur had been, Invisibility Cloak over his arm. He had barely opened his mouth, when the now overworked floo fireplace came alive again, and out came Penelope and her former roommate. Once brushed off:

"Guys, this is Rachel Brunsden."

Lisa was the only one who had ever actually met her, being a fellow Ravenclaw, but polite hellos were exchanged all around. Brunsden was rather short in stature, with long brown hair tied back in a plait.

Immediately after the greetings, she knelt by Percy, using her wand to do the diagnosis. It took a couple of minutes and a lot of wand flashes, but she had a confident look on her face as she stood up.

"Well he's got a sternum that's fractured in three places, and seven broken ribs. And his teeth are gone."

"Is his life in any danger?" Her ex roomie didn't look concerned, but Penelope was still worried.

"Well it's probably best that he's out cold like he is, otherwise the shock would be doing him some harm. What's your potions supply like?"

Now some glances were exchanged, but there was nothing else to do but:

"We'll have to nick them from Hogwarts, give Harry and Hermione a list and they'll get it for you." This was Bill, but when Hermione's eyes went wide, Harry was the one to explain.

"We're the only two people here who have any reason to be in that school tonight, if someone were to get caught. I'll get the stuff, you be the lookout. Rachel, you have a list for us?" He had turned to her, but by the time he was saying it, she was scribbling on a Fleur supplied piece of paper.

"These three should do it. The vials are clearly labeled and will be easy to find on the shelves. Only take one vial each. When I was there last, Pomfrey had no wards or anything of the like to prevent any theft." Any truly sensitive potions were kept in Slughorn's care, and the old Potions Master did take those responsibilities reasonably seriously.

Harry took a quick look at the list, recognizing only one of the names.

"Oh man, Percy is definitely staying at 12 tonight, I can't wait to hear him moaning."

Skele-Grow will do that to a person.

"I remember that you had a lot of fun with it. We'd better get going." Hermione yanked on her still chortling boyfriend's hand and dragged him to the floo, remembering to grab the map with her other hand. The map was still 'on', and they checked to make sure that Pomfrey was still not in view before they left, she wasn't.

"Hogwarts Infirmary!"

"Hogwarts Infirmary!"

They got there to find it still as empty as the map had said seconds earlier, it was their good fortune that not no students were ill enough to be there. Hermione waved her wand at the floo to shut it off, temporarily, and then moved to the door. She had the map in her hand, but better safe than sorry.

Harry needed no further instructions to hurry up, opening up the medicine locker and simply Summoning the three vials needed. He then did a little rearranging of the remaining vials, to hopefully cover for their theft.

"Harry, Pomfrey just appeared in McGonagall's office." She would later reflect that they could have just 'asked' McG for the meds, but that little detail didn't occur to either of them until later on.

Oh bugger.

"I'm ready, let's get out of here." He put the vial in his pocket.

"They're not moving just yet, but we shouldn't risk the floo. Come on, we'll use the one in my office." Hermione, watching the map every second, signaled that the coast was clear. As they left, Harry waved his wand at the floo, freeing it up.

They made it to Hermione's office with about twenty seconds to spare. To spare because McG and Pomfrey were on the move. They were headed in the vague direction of Hermione's office, vague in that Hermione shared a corridor with four other teachers, any one of whom could be the destination. Except that only Flitwick was home, so it was 50/50, as Hermione quickly locked the door and prayed that there was enough floo powder for the both of them.

Harry, with the meds, went first.

"Weasley Cottage!" He hopped in, and was gone.

The dots of McG and Pomfrey were almost at Hermione's door, having picked up Flitwick on the way.

"Weasley Cottage." Hermione said it as softly as she dared, the offices were soundproofed in theory, but who knows what the Headmistress could hear outside the door.

She flooed away right as the knocking started.

She got back to Bill's to find that there were no new guests, and that Brunsden was already forcing a potion down Percy's throat, the man was still knocked out. Hermione walked over to Bill, who was keeping out of the way.

"What about your parents? Do they have an inkling of what went on?"

"Not unless Kingsley told them, and it's best that they don't know about our actions if he does. That way they can answer his questions with genuine ignorance."

"How far would Kingsley take this? Would he really try to get Percy into custody?"

"I don't know, and that's the big problem. We don't know how far Kingsley would go. So far he's been pretty light on us because of the last war, but that can only go so long."

"What changed in him? He never would have tried this back then."

"He became management Hermione, nothing more. He thinks he's the next Minister, and he'll have that on the brain until he either gets there, or falls flat like Barty Crouch did."

"Can we hide Percy at 12 until Sunday?"

"No, best that we get him out tomorrow morning, if he's well enough to travel. We don't know how far the defenses will hold at 12 if Kingsley tries really hard to breach them, and I would rather not find out anytime soon." Bill saw Rachel giving Percy the second potion, with her wand flashing.

When she was finished, she walked over to Bill.

"He's out of the woods for now, we don't have to worry about internal bleeding or anything of that nature. I'm going to give him an hour, and then I'll force feed him the Skele-Grow."

"Force feed?" From Bill, he had thankfully never needed to imbibe that particular brew.

Rachel turned to Harry.

"Harry, did it taste good after Lockhart vanished your arm?" That story was one of Hogwarts' iconic, yet still humorous, tales.

"It's how I always imagined urine would taste like." He shuddered a bit at the memory.

"Exactly, but he won't have teeth until he takes a nice sized dose of it."

"Can he travel tomorrow?"

"He can if he has to Bill. Do I want to know about what's going on here?" Penelope had only told her enough to get her out of the house, her husband was watching her two children.

"I don't know Rachel, do you? We could use a Medi-Witch in our organization." He not so helpfully left out which organization that was.

But Rachel, like every member of her profession, had a healthy sized brain and could figure it out. The composition of our players in the room by itself was very telling.

"I'm muggleborn Bill, anything that hurts the Malfoys is good enough for me. But I don't have what you could call loads of free time."

"We meet once a week, officially, for about two hours, and food is served. Your kids are welcome to come if they don't mind playing with our toddler. There are various confidentiality agreements to be signed and all, but it's never boring."

"Alright then, I'm in. How is he traveling tomorrow? Muggle transport would be easier on him. His bones will be fine, but the body has been through a trauma, so his equilibrium will be a little off for the next couple of days, I would be wary of him trying to Apparate or the aftereffects of a portkey or two."

"He'll be on trains, which reminds me that we have to change his tickets. Harry, you have enough cash to do that?"

"Sure, at the house. I'll go get some and get the tickets changed."

Bill then turned to their other problem, potentially.

"Lisa, what are you thinking about all of this?" He had seen Neville, out of the corner of his eye, filling her in.

"I'm with you, for the same reasons as Rachel said. Draco Malfoy ran amok for too long at Hogwarts, I won't let him do it anymore if I can help it." Lisa Turpin was enough like Hermione in nature, that she had often wondered at Hogwarts what life would have been like for her in she had been Sorting Hat'd into Gryffindor and Hermione into her more natural seeming Ravenclaw. Now perhaps was her chance to find out.

"Good enough. Penelope, I'm afraid that you can't have any more time to make your decision if you want to go with him now. But you can always go later, no one is going to stop you. All we're asking now is how many tickets Harry needs to buy."

"I don't know Bill, I just don't know what to do." She certainly sounded a bit lost.

"Then I guess that means you're not going, but like I said, you can always change your mind. I'm sure Flourish and Blotts would appreciate some notice in any case. Harry, Hermione, please go fix the train tickets. I'll get over to Gringotts to get the parchments for our newest members to sign. Neville, Fleur, if you wouldn't mind giving the ten galleon tour to our newest initiates. When we're all back, we will figure out what to do about Mum and Dad. Let's go."

Harry and Hermione left first, due to the multiple stops they had to make. But it was an easy trip, there was a floo station less than 100 meters from King's Cross. They exchanged the Sunday tickets for three Saturday tickets from London to Paris. The markup put barely a dent in Harry's budget, and he thought it was well worth it to get rid of Percy. The entire trip took a bit over 45 minutes, and that included getting a mass of takeout fish and chips, dinner for at least four of them had been interrupted, and totally postponed in the case of Percy and Penelope..

Bill was much quicker, he was to and from the bank in less than five minutes. Lisa and Rachel duly signed, after which they were told the entire series of events up until now. Midway through, Bill got some drinks for everyone, and took Neville with him.

"I'm not unhappy that we have these two new members Neville, but it ends here unless we get Bender and/or Keenan in, and I'm going to ask Harry to make the approaches tomorrow."

"You want to limit the membership?" Neville had not wanted McG and Flitwick to join, he would have preferred a much smaller Order than the one they currently had, Lisa notwithstanding.

"We're growing too quickly, like a muggle sports league that expands too fast for comfort. Lisa I don't mind at all, especially since we're essentially going to lose Mum because of Percy. Rachel is something I should have thought of right from the beginning." Bill was not above making mistakes, or admitting to them afterward.

"So you're not pissed about Lisa?"

"You and she are together I take it?" He thought that there were worse ideas than Neville taking up with an Auror classmate.

"More or less. We're exclusive, though nothing has been said."

"If nothing has been said, how do you know you're exclusive?" Bill couldn't help himself.

"Because I know okay." Neville sounded a bit defensive, Lisa was his first real girlfriend, and somehow he had managed to do it on the quiet, only telling Harry after swearing him to secrecy. He was still cultivating Blaise Zabini, but was taking a slow tack with it.

"Fair enough. What do you think we should do about my parents?" He knew that Neville disapproved of their behavior, but there was no out and out sniping like there was from Harry and Hermione. Plus, there was a lot less history there.

"I say we get them over to 12 tonight and tell them. We're going to have to anyway, and it would be very bad for you with them if they find out after Percy has left town."

"I think it's too late for that Neville, I think the breach is just about permanent."

"Look, they forgave Percy for a lot worse, they'll forgive you for……..well for whatever they blame you for." Neville didn't really think that Bill had done anything that wrong.

"Well that's one thing I have in common with my brother there Neville: I'm not sure I want to be forgiven." Bill took the drinks in hand, and resumed his kibitzing of the story told by Fleur to Lisa and Rachel.

When Harry and Hermione returned, they made plans to transport everyone back to 12. Bill then decided something, as Neville and Lisa went first, to prepare Kreacher.

"We'll floo Mum and Dad from your house Harry, they can come over and we'll tell them."

"You have to do it from here Bill, I took The Burrow off our floo list after I saw Molly this afternoon." He had told his friend earlier about the argument.

"You don't waste time do you?"

"I'm out of the family, remember?" Said with a grim smile.

"You know she'll walk that back."

"You're my family Bill, and George and Ron, in the Weasley clan. That's enough for now."

"I keep forgetting to ask, where's Teddy?"

"With Uncle Ron Ron and Auntie Lavender." Hermione had just flooed away, so Harry felt that he could get away with the Ron Ron.

"Oh dear God." Bill, while admittedly finding Lavender attractive, otherwise did not much care for her.

"Luna is out with Ginny, and they were the only available babysitters. They're at her flat right now doing heaven knows what." He would find out later that they had played multiple games of hide and seek, with lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwich breaks, apparently Lavender liked kids.

"Should we call them?"

"Nah, Ron might break the ribs on the other side, you should hear how he's been talking about Percy the last couple of nights."

"I'll forgo that pleasure, thank you. You're up at the floo, I'll get Mum and Dad."

"Oh I can't wait." He did the floo thing, and left just Bill.

"The Burrow!"

About five seconds later Arthur appeared.

"Bill, what's bloody going on? Kingsley just left five minutes ago, Percy has disappeared!"

"He's disappeared from Kingsley Dad, not from us. You and Mum should come over here, we need to go see him."

"Where is he?"

"Come over to my house and I'll tell you!" Bill was convinced that his father was being difficult just to be difficult. Either that, or there was a wand to his head right now, six to five and pick 'em.

"Fine, I'll get your mother, we'll be there in a moment."

Bill took his wand out and aimed it right at the floo, waiting. It was a long two minutes before Molly tumbled out of it.

She looked up to see her son with his wand pointed at her, and it almost gave her a stroke.

"Why is your wand pointed at me Bill?" That 'voice' wasn't there yet.

"It's not pointed at you Mum, it's pointed at the floo, anyone but Dad comes out of it is going to be in big trouble."

Arthur then came out, but Bill's wand didn't go down.

"Is anyone else going to try to join us?"

Arthur looked a bit befuddled.

"Of course not, the house is empty now."

"How hard did Kingsley question you?" As he said this, he was scanning them both for Tracking Charms.

"Not that hard I guess, I guess we looked confused enough that he believed that we didn't know what was going on."

"That makes sense, though I have to wonder why you each have two Tracking Charms planted on you." Bill watched with muted satisfaction as his parents colored. His father looked very abashed.

"There were four of them in the house, one of his security detail must have done it." He knew that he would be hearing about this later on from multiple people.

"Kingsley's not stupid, he had to know we would be checking you. This is a message, nothing more." He then waved his wand at both of them, cleaning off the charms.

"But can't he track your floo through the Regulatory Board?"

"Not when the father of one of my Hogwarts roommates is in control of it, no. Harry and I made a deal with him the day after Kingsley gave us up to McGonagall and Flitwick."

Molly was aghast.

"You paid him off?" She could hardly believe it.

"Well, paid off is such an ugly term. Besides, you never know what a grandfather of four would do for a set of autographs from The Boy Who Lived, not to mention a game worn set of Quidditch robes, until you ask that is." Bill and Harry had gotten some nice laughs after that happened, and Bill was enjoying the facial expressions of his parents even now. He was now very much hoping that they would say something to Harry later on, it would be fun to watch.

"Okay then, now that we're 'alone'. Percy was injured during the melee, though from what I gather it wasn't really his fault. We've treated his injuries, using a licensed professional I might add, and he's recuperating at 12 until tomorrow morning. That's when he'll be moving out. Now hop in and let's get moving, it's not out of the realm that we move him again tonight. I made a promise that I would get him out of the country in one piece, and by God I'm going to keep it. Go."

Molly, then Arthur took the floo to 12, while Bill loaded up his home with every defensive ward possible, and he knew a lot of interesting ones from his days in Egypt. He got to 12 about five minutes after his parents, and found everyone but them eating fish and chips. Well not Percy, he had no teeth, but he was awake, though a little groggy.

The Weasley parents were getting the full story, and both of them looking rather overwhelmed. Percy was as well, though he couldn't really talk that well without his choppers. At the end of the combined stories, he asked for a piece of paper and a pen, and once given them, wrote down:

_Thank you for keeping an eye on me, I would be under torture right now if you hadn't._

He got a collective 'you're welcome' from the assembled mass, and Percy then chugged down his recommended dose of Skele-Grow, and managed not to puke any of it up. It seemed that he had some steel in his spine after all.. He even smiled at the end of it.

Harry looked at his watch, it was almost 9:00 pm. The train left King's Cross at 7:00 am sharp, which meant that they only had a couple of hours left if they were to get any decent sleep time. He took Bill aside, they went into the hallway to talk.

"Who's going with Percy tomorrow to Paris?" Harry knew that it wouldn't be him, but otherwise had no idea who Bill was thinking about.

"Fleur for sure, and now I'm thinking Lisa. You and I are just too recognizable, and those two won't be as tempted to take any parting shots at Percy. Plus Fleur speaks French, and that can't be discounted."

"Sounds good. Is he on his own from Paris to Zurich?" He kicked himself for not thinking of the French part of it.

"As long as nothing weird happens on the first leg, yes. Now, I have to bring up Mum and what she said." Bill didn't look thrilled about it either.

"How much do you know about it?"

"Dad had a 30 minute pow wow with Fleur this afternoon, and she relayed the substance to me right after he left."

"And that is?"

"That Mum was wrong, spoke emotionally when she shouldn't have, and that the strain of things should allow you to forgive her, though probably not forget."

"That argument on her behalf could charitably be called 'flimsy'."

"I know, but is it good enough for you right now? I'm not saying it should be or shouldn't be."

"I'm tired of them assuming that I run you, and I have to believe that you are as well."

"I am, but they'll go to their graves believing that they're the only ones not swayed by your aura."

"For such seemingly modest people, that's rather arrogant."

"No kidding, which is why we need to begin dealing them out of the main decisions. I know we need Dad for his contacts at The Ministry, but I think we need to begin treating them like McGonagall and Flitwick, only having them at the official meetings." Everyone knew that Slughorn didn't want much input, so he was already taken care of.

"An Order within the Order then."

"Pretty much. I'd like you to make approaches to Bender and Keenan tomorrow, see if they'll get involved." They had touched on this before, but had always put off the approach.

"Sounds good, how much input can I promise them?"

"They'll have more than their Hogwarts elders if they want, but you and I will still make the policy. But make it clear that we're not the controlling types."

"I think they'll be interested. Keenan has a lot of contacts in the muggle world that could be very useful."

"Which is why we need him, and Bender will likely have some inside Auror Command, and we badly need them."

"Sounds good, I'll talk to them before lunch tomorrow."

"I'll be at work until noon, come over to the bank if you get time and tell me what happens." That happened a lot, and it suddenly occurred to Bill that Harry was in his office more than any human not named Fleur, at least two or three times a week now.

"I'll be there. What do you want to do about tonight?"

"Are we all welcome for the night? I'd feel better if we could hunker down here until we have to leave for the train." He was sure that Arthur and Molly would want to stay with Percy on his last night, and perhaps Penelope too.

"The more the merrier." He heard the floo fire, and the two of them went over to see that it was Ron, Lavender, and a very asleep Teddy.

"Hey Harry, Bill." Ron hefted up the youngster and put him in Harry's arms.

"Thanks Ron, did you three have a good time?"

"Oh it was great, he's a lot of fun to have around. I like being an uncle. Bill." Said with a grin at the only married one of his siblings.

"You'll get that for real soon enough brother. Hi Lavender, good to see you again."

"Hi Bill, Harry." She seemed a bit nervous.

"Hey Lavender, welcome to 12. Make yourself at home." He knew she would hear some things, but she could always do some parchment signing, or be Obliviated before she went home. He went upstairs to put Teddy to bed, by himself, as he heard Bill start to give the highlights of the evening to the newcomers.

Teddy's bed was a race car themed one, and as he looked at the sleeping little boy, Harry started smiling.

"Well I guess history isn't repeating itself after all is it? I had one aunt and uncle that were beyond horrible, you have more terrific aunts and uncles than you can shake a stick at. We're just not your blood is all, I wonder if that's the key?"

Teddy's reply was to grunt a little, and turn over to his other side, taking his teddy bear with him. Harry loved that irony, his godson having a 'teddy' bear. It was a recent purchase and now went pretty much everywhere with him. He pulled the covers up a little bit, and went back downstairs.

Arthur met him at the bottom of the stairway, but Harry was suddenly very tired of dealing with this man and his wife.

"Harry, could we talk for a moment?"

"Let's save it for tomorrow Arthur, after your son is gone. We all have a lot to process right now, and maybe a night's sleep will help with that."

This was not at all what Arthur had planned, Molly was waiting in one of the smaller rooms. But Harry did not give him a chance to argue the point, he strode right past the older man into the living room to partake of some Kreacher made cobbler. Arthur went to get his wife, and after a hurried conference, they chose not to pursue the matter.

The entire group, plus a late arriving Luna and Ginny, stayed over in a kind of slumber party of adults. Percy was quite surrounded, and his moans were only bearable to the others because of a Muting Charm. But in the morning he had a new set of choppers, nice and white and evenly placed just like his old ones had been.

The alarm rang at 5:30 am sharp, and after a hasty breakfast and some Glamour Charm applications, a group went off to the train station: Percy, Penelope, Bill, Fleur, Arthur, Molly, and Lisa. Molly had a sudden inspiration to go on the trip to Paris with her son, daughter in law, and Lisa…….but thankfully for all three of them her plan didn't work, due to having no muggle money on her to buy the ticket with. Bill didn't even need to threaten anything as she reluctantly gave up.

Kingsley was still under the impression that Percy would be leaving the next day, so there was no obvious DMLE presence at the station, so the three got on the train with no undue commotion. Before they left, Penelope took her beau aside for a goodbye.

"I have some time off coming next week, I can meet you in Zurich and we can talk more then. If you want."

"I want, yes please." A newer, more humble Percy was there with his new teeth.

"Send me an owl once you get settled."

"I will, as soon as I get there." He patted his pocket where Harry's going away present, a bank draft, resided.

Neither of them cried, they weren't that type, but a long hug and a kiss followed. The train left five minutes later, with it's three magical passengers.

A short time later their train approached the entrance to the Chunnel, and as it did, Percy peered out the window for the last live look at Great Britain that he would ever have.

End Chapter


	24. 9 in 12

Saturday, October 4, 1999, continued

Café Delpy, Toulouse, France

2:00 pm GMT

"So that's what's been going on in our little circle over the last few months. I've written the bare bones in our letters, but I wanted you to know the full details when we were face to face." Bill leaned back and drank some of his coffee, watching the reaction of his brother. The story had taken a full hour, and four cups of the best coffee that Bill had ever tasted, plus two croissants.

"Are you asking me to come back Bill?" Charlie himself had been too riveted by the tale to consume even half of what his brother did.

"No, Charlie, I'm not. I would love it if you did, and there's a sweet job waiting for you at Gringotts if you do……..but what I want is for you to be happy."

"I can't believe that the family is split like it is. All because of Percy."

"Well, the rest of us, aside from George and Ron, haven't handled it as well as we could have. But yes, Percy is the root cause."

"I knew that he never fit in with us, but I never thought it would come to this." Charlie didn't sound too amazed though.

"Lucius Malfoy and his spawn did their work well, but the raw material helped them a lot."

"So it's basically you and Harry against Mum and Dad, with the others siding with you."

"Well Mum drove away Ginny at the end, and I've been awestruck at how much Ron's matured over the last couple of years, but you've pretty much nailed it."

"Tell me, honestly, how much of a factor is Harry here?"

"A lot, but that kid……sorry, that guy, is amazing. All he's been through, all that he had to deal with, yet he still comes through when he's needed, every time. You should see how he's been with little Teddy."

"And the thing with Ginny?"

"You and I both agreed from jump that it would never last, remember?" That had been at Bill's wedding, when they were sure that Harry and Ginny would get back together after Voldemort went down.

"True, but I figured Mum would pressure them into a wedding before it dissolved."

"Credit him for making sure that didn't happen, I think that's the main reason he broke up with her this last time, because Mum was dropping so many hints. He's probably better suited to Hermione anyway." He wouldn't say this in front of Ginny or Ron though, he avoided that topic when he was with them.

"Well you know I'm with you."

"In the coming war, or with Mum and Dad?"

"Both. And I've asked for a leave of absence from the Preserve."

Bill would have spilled his coffee if he hadn't drunk the last drops from his cup. Still, he coughed a bit in surprise.

"Come again?"

"I asked for, and was granted, a one year leave of absence from the Preserve. I've been eligible since I hit the ten year mark there, it's for ¾ pay and I get my position back when I return with no loss of seniority." It was company policy for all long-term employees, so as to discourage burnout, the Preserve was very remote.

"I don't know what to say, I didn't know that you could do that." He now wished that Gringotts did something similar.

"I know, I didn't want Mum and Dad pressuring me into taking it, and I was concerned that one of you would let it slip." Charlie was pleased that his plan caught his big brother so off-guard.

"So you want me to set you up at Gringotts? Something part-time to make up for the lost pay."

"I have a job lined up, until May that is." He didn't need it really, the Preserve, because of it's remoteness, paid something akin to muggle oil rigs, so ¾ pay was still pretty stout. The Preserve was one of the few legal sources of dragon hide, dragon blood, and other materials, and they charged a stiff premium in order to keep their operations well financed.

"With whom?" Bill was thinking Hogwarts maybe, Charlie and Hagrid had always gotten along well.

"Puddlemere United, I'm going to mark our little brother in practice for the rest of the season." Charlie, despite knowing Harry the least well of the Weasley siblings, was right with Bill in considering Harry to be one of his brothers.

Bill was stunned into silence for a full minute, as the implications sank into his brain.

"That sneaky little bastard." Meaning Harry of course.

"So he really did keep it a secret eh?" Charlie now had a large grin on his face at his brother's befuddlement.

"He most certainly did. But how long have you been thinking about this?"

"For the last few months I guess. I'm figuring that you didn't know about him offering me a bedroom at his house?"

"I knew about that, he mentioned it in passing one night at dinner, but it never occurred to me that you'd take him up on it. He arranged the Puddlemere thing for you then? Are you in Quidditch shape enough to do that?"

"He did, but it didn't take much convincing of his management. The owner, Clive somebody, remembered me from back in the day at Hogwarts. They released their backup Seeker during training camp, and he's been unmarked ever since. But Harry talked him into taking me on, and I signed the contract last week. I only get into games as a reserve, and probably not even then, since I won't be the official backup. But still, a chance to see a little of what I missed out on. And yeah, we play Quiddtitch every Saturday, and I get more than my fair share of Snitches. The competition might not be like the League, but a Snitch is a Snitch."

"All without me having an inkling." Bill said this quietly, yet at the same time very impressed.

"That was the idea, I asked him not to."

"Why'd you go through him and not me?" He wasn't offended, just curious.

"Because I knew from Harry that you and Dad were heading for a confrontation, and I didn't want to be a factor in that. I mean I back you with him and Mum, 100 percent, but I wanted this all arranged before I sprung it on any of you."

"So you're coming back with Lisa, Fleur, and me?" Bill had taken a portkey from Dover to Calais, and then the floo on to Toulouse, he would be using the second half of Percy's roundtrip train ticket to get back to Blighty.

"I am, my stuff is in a locker at the train station in Paris, my ticket is already bought to come back with you." The conference that he had come to France for had ended that morning.

"And you're staying at Harry's, right?"

"I can't wait to meet little Teddy." He had had a lot of fun playing with his little brothers when they were Teddy's age, very fond memories they were.

"You're prepared for Mum's explosion when she hears that you won't be with her and Dad at The Burrow?"

"I think Mum is done exploding for now, after Ginny and Ron went south on her." That was his hope anyway, but he knew there would be blowback.

"Ron will move back in probably now, I don't know how much longer he can take Harry and Hermione sharing a bedroom near him."

"I thought he was back with that Lavender girl?" Ron's letters weren't noted for their length, but they still came to the Preserve once a month, and the last one had contained the Lavender news.

"Doesn't matter, he won't want to see that on a daily basis, or rather a nightly basis. Can't say I blame him really, though Harry and Hermione seem to go out of their way not to rub his nose in it."

"Well anyway, I can handle Mum. When are we meeting the ladies?"

"Another hour or so, they're having lunch with Fleur's family. They'll meet us at the train station."

"Good enough. What kind of blowback are you expecting from The Ministry for the way Percy left town?"

"A freeze out of some kind, maybe some petty harassment. Nothing legal, they don't have a leg to stand on in that regard, since we can always say that Percy chose not to get his medical care from a hospital. There's nothing that says that Rachel can't give out private care in her off time, they'll figure out it was her if they try hard enough."

"I'm sure it'll be interesting whatever happens."

"I've got to ask brother, are you sure about this?"

"Beyond a doubt sure? No, but it's too late, I've signed too many papers. I'm looking on it as an adventure." He even sounded like he believed it.

"They lose one son to banishment, and another ends his own a few hours later, you can't make this stuff up." He got up, totally wired after all that coffee, and laid some money on the table for the bill.

"Harry and I already agreed to give you the credit for me coming back, to grease the skids for you with our parents."

Bill just laughed, and said no more about it until they were all on the train.

Flashback to 10:30 am, Hogwarts.

Harry was watching, sort of, the Hufflepuff Quidditch practice that was ongoing, with another 30 minutes to go. All four Houses had Saturday practices of two hours each, plus two other one hour practices during the week, part of McGonagall trying to reign in Oliver Wood types who would sacrifice their teams' grades on the altar of potential game success. The cost to Harry was sitting in his specially brought cushioned chair in the stands, finishing the magazine column that he had due the next day. He didn't even see Flitwick until the little man tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh hello sir, didn't hear you."

"Engrossed in practice I see."

"Not really, I'm just here to keep away spies and for advice when needed." He smiled, and was pleased see a smile returned to him. He waved Flitwick to the seat next to him, and the little fellow took a load off.

"You're filing Madam Hooch's role very nicely, we're all pleased."

"Glad to hear it. What's on your mind?" He took a sip of the herbal tea in his thermos.

"What happened last night Harry? We're hearing disturbing things about Percy and a battle."

"Kingsley squealed on us again?" He couldn't be less surprised.

"He's concerned, yes."

"Well if you talked to him, you know what went on." He knew that wouldn't be the end of it though.

"I gather that Percy never went to St. Mungo's."

"Yes, and we didn't technically bring him here either, if that's what you were going to ask next."

"I was, but you and Hermione were here."

"Yes, in our Order capacities we nicked some medical potions to aid Percy." He hoped that invoking the name of The Order would bind Flitwick to the parchment terms. He was also hoping that Flitwick would give away how they knew that he and Hermione had been there.

"Yet you didn't see fit to tell us."

"We didn't have time, it was rather of the essence. I was fully intending to brief you at lunch if you and Minerva happened to be there." He was sort of telling the truth, he was only going to talk if cornered like he was.

"We would have appreciated more hearing it last night."

"And I would appreciate you and her not allowing Kingsley to use you quite so blatantly, but we can't all get what we want now can we?"

Flitwick just chuckled.

"Touché. Where is Percy now?" He, McG, and Slughorn had been brought up to speed on Percy's banishment earlier in the week.

"On a train out of the country. I'm not sure exactly where he is, I have to think that they're in France by now."

"So we won't know anything until his chaperones return I take it."

"I would think so, but we don't anticipate any problems."

"Glad to hear that. From now on, Minerva and I would like to be more involved in the decision making process. We're not challenging you and Bill, but I would think that our counsel would be at least as valuable as that of your other friends." He was thinking of Ron in particular.

Harry had a lot to say on that, but chose not to, he had a row with Molly coming and he didn't want to lose focus. Instead:

"Sometime around lunch I'll be inviting Bender and Keenan to join us in The Order. Last night Lisa Turpin and Rachel Brunsden were officially inducted, and Bill and I want those to be the last additions for the near future."

"Rachel took care of Percy, am I right?" He remembered that she and Penelope had been roommates.

"She did, and Lisa was with us to stop Draco. A pair of Ravenclaws with us now, we're up to four if I remember correctly." And it was easy to, since Luna and Flitwick himself were the others.

"Well I have no problem with the additions, I'm sure Minerva won't as well."

"If you two want to be with me when I make the approach, you're more than welcome." A spur of the moment idea, but designed to salve any hurt feelings.

"I would like that, say, after lunch?"

"How about during lunch? We can put up a Silencing Bubble, I have Slytherin right afterward out here. Wouldn't do to be late, and have them accusing a Gryffindor alum of neglecting them two weeks before our two Houses play each other." Gryffindor v. Slytherin was the first match of the season, followed a week later by Ravenclaw v. Hufflepuff, he would be the referee during the latter game.

"Good point. I'll see you inside Harry." Like most teachers, he used his Saturdays to grade papers, and there was a big pile on his desk right now.

"Take care Filius." He looked around at the windy stadium, wondering how he was going to keep Teddy occupied for the afternoon.

After an uneventful remainder of the Hufflepuff practice, Harry walked with the players back to school. It was a casual kind of thing that he liked to do, everyone calling him Harry as they shot the shit for 15 minutes. He was met at the front doors by McG, Bender, and Keenan. The Headmistress waved the students inside with something akin to a smile, and the four adults remained outside.

"Harry, I spoke to Filius and thought it best to have our little get together out here, privately.

Except for the nine Hufflepuffs who just saw this foursome together, but Harry didn't mention that, much as he was thinking it. He began:

"Soren, Giles, we would like you to consider joining The Order of the Phoenix, and helping with the fight against the Malfoys and what's left of the Death Eaters." He proceeded to give them a five minute pitch on why they were needed, what they would be doing, and how grateful everyone would be if they joined the team. It was a different one than he had done before, the only person really older than himself that he tried this on was Slughorn, and he had been a lot more oily then.

But it seemed to go down smoothly this time too. After a few perfunctory questions, Bender agreed. Keenan was a little more cautious.

"So if I'm to understand you, we're operating outside Ministry control, but with their knowledge?"

"That's correct, the Head Auror is a former member whom we trust about as far as we can throw him, and he's a large man. But he does want the Malfoys to go down, that's in his favor." That was about all he had in his favor, or so Harry thought.

"The number of laws you've broken, can you count them on both your hands?"

"Not even close, but no one has died since the train."

"Okay, I'll sign on." He did not seem enthused about it, but not reluctant either.

"Excellent, Hermione will be by after lunch with the things you need to sign. I'll be back at the Pitch all afternoon, but it'll give you both a chance to get to think a bit."

"And we're the last members?"

"Sort of Soren, in a manner. We'll be adding someone else today, but I can't say anything until everyone gets back from France."

The two Order newcomers left, suitably confused, while McG just hung back with arched eyebrows. Harry, feeling a tiny bit remorseful about the freezing out he and Bill had been doing to her lately, simply said:

"Think of a former Gryffindor Seeker with red hair."

Ginny was already in The Order, so that description could only fit one person, and it put a smile on McGonagall's face. But she merely said:

"It will be good to have him back."

On to lunch they went, and a brief one it was for Harry, as he liked to be at the Pitch before Slytherin got there. Teddy was fetched, Neville had been watching him during the morning and for lunch, and the little boy immediately settled into his own special chair for a nap.

Toward the end of the Slytherins, they had not asked him one question during a practice yet this season, Hermione joined them.

"So how is our least favorite House doing at practice?" She tugged Teddy's blanket a bit higher, marveling at how he seemed to sleep better outside.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't been paying attention. I now know why Hooch was like she was, this job bored her to death."

"Very likely. Soren and Giles are sorted out, they signed the parchments and all that, they'll be there tomorrow after your game."

"Oh I can't wait for that game either, I'm going to dine on this for months." He was quietly gleeful, but not loud enough to wake Teddy.

"If you win."

"If? They haven't won a game all season, and only been within 200 points once."

"Don't get overconfident. Dream about rubbing Ron's nose in it after the game, not before."

"Hey, I have to do something to pass the time."

"Finish your article then, the one that they're paying you that obscene amount of money for." She continued to be amazed that they paid him so much for a couple of pages of Quidditch thoughts.

Harry took out a long roll of parchment from a pocket of his chair and handed it over, it was said article.

"Could you do me a favor and take this down to the post office in Hogsmeade and put in on an express owl." He gave her his biggest shit eating grin.

"My my, and 23 whole hours ahead of schedule too, my Harry certainly has grown up."

"The next column will be about Ron's love of the Cannons and how we shredded them into so much chutney."

Hermione just rolled her eyes, and hopped onto his lap. Nothing frisky happened, not with Teddy sitting right next to them, but both of them were comfortable. She checked her watch.

"So Bill and Charlie are meeting right now."

"Yeah, I can't wait to hear about that."

"I'm looking forward to seeing Molly's reaction about how it all came about, and his new living arrangements." Yesterday had really torn it for her with Molly.

"Now now."

"She's behaved badly toward you, and by extension me. We're allowed some private gloating."

"As long as it stays between the two of us." The shoe being rather on the other foot here, usually Hermione was the one talking Harry out of such things, not the other way round.

"It will. One more question before I head down to the post office."

"Shoot."

"Are you going to adopt Teddy?"

Harry was stunned into silence, he was assuming another Weasley question. But he took a moment to properly think through his answer.

"No, I don't think so. I don't want him calling me Dad. I mean I know I will be his 'father' for the rest of his life, but the only one he should ever call that is Remus, if only to a photo. I'm fine with being Harry. Why? Do you think I should."

"Well not after hearing that explanation……and no, I didn't have an opinion either way, even though I'll be more or less his mother figure. I just wanted to hear what you thought about it." Indeed she thought it was very mature, and a nice gesture to Remus and Tonks, who were surely smiling at that in the afterlife.

"He'll figure out the word 'Hermione' eventually, give him another year or so."

"Ha ha. I'll see you later, I'm going to go to Hogsmeade and then grade some papers. Do you need anything else?"

"Nah, we're all set here. Love you."

"Love you too." A brief smooch, and she started off on her hike to the outskirts of campus, where she would Apparate to Hogsmeade. Ordinarily she would simply walk to Hogsmeade, perhaps with her portable radio and headphones, for the exercise. But not any longer, not with Draco Malfoy perfectly willing to kidnap people. She made it there and back with no troubles, this time. Next week was the first Hogsmeade visit, that would be the telling day. Or would it?

Forward to 8:30 pm

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

The train ride was a bit longer than expected, with a delay in getting going, so Percy's escorts and their surprise guest didn't make it back to 12 until late. This caused no worry among the gathered folk, as Hermione used her newly purchased and modified cell phone to call the train station and find out that it was just a normal delay, no incidents. Arthur and Molly were over, wanting to know about the results of the Percy situation, and despite his wife's baleful glares, Arthur persuaded Hermione to show him how the device worked.

"So it's basically like a floo without being able to go back and forth?" He was turning it over in his hands, peering closely at it.

"Pretty much, though you can call other countries with it, which you can't via the floo." Not technically correct, though distance was an inhibiting factor with the floo.

"Fascinating, and you pay a monthly fee for all this?"

"Right, though I don't carry it with me at Hogwarts, way too much magical interference. I use it to talk with my parents and things like that, since they're not on the floo network. I know I pay less for this than Harry pays for our supply of floo powder." Which, after food, was 12's biggest expense, since the floo got used many times per day.

Ron was watching this with amusement, and just to mess with both his father and Hermione, threw out a suggestion.

"Why don't you let him talk to your Dad on it Hermione? Give him a sample." He had used a muggle payphone on a dare from George a few weeks ago, and no longer felt the need to shout in them. Ron and Ginny had been asked to come over, by Harry, even though he wouldn't tell them why.

Arthur's eyes lit up, he had never been mad at Hermione in the first place. One look at those pleading eyes melted all her resistance.

"Alright then." She dialed the number, and waited for the response.

"Hi Dad, it's me………Oh I'm fine, I was just showing Arthur my cell phone, he'd like to say hello………right, here he is." She handed the phone back to Arthur.

Arthur and Papa Granger had a pleasant ten minute chat, Arthur quickly figuring out how loud he needed to talk and that he didn't need to press any other buttons. He was having a ball, so much so that when Teddy wandered in right as the conversation was winding down, he demanded to 'play' with Hermione's toy as well.

Hermione wanted no part of that, and gently took the phone from Arthur.

"Sorry Dad, but Teddy wants to say hello and then we need to go." She heard the floo firing, and figured correctly that the French brigade was returning. Teddy got to say hi, he had met Hermione's parents once, though he didn't remember them, even if he was not allowed to hang on to the phone without both of Hermione's hands helping him. But she pried the phone away from him as Bill, Fleur, and Lisa came out of the floo in turn.

Bill was not especially pleased to see his parents, but as the floo fired one last time, he turned to them.

"We brought home a special guest."

Charlie tumbled out, not that gracefully, as he didn't use the floo a lot in Romania.

"Hello all." He gave them a big greeting grin.

A bit of silence followed, then a hail of words erupted, most of them shouts as every Weasley not in the know rushed forward. Charlie got more than his normal quota of hugs and slaps on the back before George shouted everyone down.

"So how long are you back for? You're coming to the game tomorrow right?"

"I'm back for a year or so, maybe a bit less."

That sure quieted the assembled Weasleys not named Fleur and Bill, which for some reason pleased Charlie greatly. He had heard Bill's Cliff's Notes version of the Weasley troubles at the café, and the mini-series version from Fleur and Bill on the train ride back to Britain, so he decided to get things fully out into the open now.

"Harry, which room am I taking?"

Everyone in the know, which included Hermione and Neville, looked right at Molly after he said that, waiting/hoping for the explosion. Harry did the opposite, waving his wand at Charlie's valise and making it hover in the air.

"Follow me, it's on the other side of Teddy's room. Don't worry, he doesn't sleepwalk or anything."

"Glad to hear that a little boy won't be jumping on my bed in the middle of the night."

"Not the best alarm clock. C'mon Teddy, let's meet Uncle Charlie."

Yet another uncle for the little guy, but he dutifully followed along and was hoisted in the air by Charlie. This guaranteed a giggle as they went upstairs, Teddy chattering at Charlie as they did.

Molly hadn't said a word, due in no small part to Arthur's hand on her arm. He looked at Bill.

"I take it that this has been planned for awhile then?"

"Don't look at me Dad, I found out about it for the first time this afternoon. This was all Harry and Charlie."

The looks on the faces of his parents flat out said that they didn't believe him, and Bill walked up to them.

"I dare you, call me a liar in front of everyone. Go on." Said very quietly. He had talked Charlie out of giving him credit, during their train ride back.

They refused to rise to the bait though, and waited for the other three to come back.

Or other two rather, as they took a bit of extra time to put Teddy to bed and read him a quick story. They were gone for ten, very tense, minutes. Quiet minutes as well, as Bill wouldn't let it go with his parents, and the others talked very mutely.

Charlie came down by himself, Harry was still upstairs.

"Why's everyone so glum?" He knew why though, as his father came over.

"It's good to have you back son. How long has this been in the works?"

"About a month or so, Harry's arranged for me to workout with Puddlemere for the rest of the season, so I'll have something to do."

Ron's eyebrows went way up, and his brother noticed.

"I know Ron, bad timing. But at least I didn't help them in time for tomorrow did I?"

"Well……yeah, that's right." Ron was smiling anyway, and his smile grew larger at hearing that.

"I'll take Puddlemere and give you 200 points, for ten galleons." Gambling was a big part of social life at the Reserve, out of boredom, but it was mostly small amounts like this.

"Give me 300 points and you have a deal." As bad as Chudley was, Ron thought that that was a safe enough bet.

"Not a chance baby brother, Harry might get the Snitch too quickly. Speak of the devil." Harry had just come into the room.

"And the devil appears. No gambling on us Charlie, the League has strict rules about that, even if you bet for your own team."

"How long was the lecture?"

"Clive drew it out to 20 minutes back in July, Oliver said that his was 10 minutes back in the day."

Molly was getting more frustrated by the moment, but couldn't see a way out of it. However, Charlie gave her an out, when he came over to give her a hug.

"It's great to see you Mum."

"It's wonderful to see you to Charlie. You know that you don't have to stay here, your bedroom is always ready for you at home."

"I know Mum, and I'll be by for dinner now and again, but I'm going to stay here and help with Teddy." He made that up on the spot.

"I thought that he had all the babysitters that he needs."

"He does, but I'll be coming and going a lot now, a lot easier to do that from here. I imagine I'll be doing more Order things too, since I'll have my afternoons free and all." He was trying to be as gentle as possible, not wanting any confrontations right now.

"Well if you change your mind……."

"Thanks Mum." And everyone sighed in relief that there was going to be no more drama attached to it.

Meanwhile Arthur had sought out Harry, who was trying very hard to avoid taunting Ron about the game the next day.

"Whatever you did to get Charlie back here, thank you." He put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and was relieved that he didn't flinch at the contact.

"He wouldn't have come back if he didn't want to, I just added a sweetener to it."

"Two sweeteners, the job and the room."

Harry decided to throw something out there.

"Oh I offered the room months ago, but it was the Percy thing that got him to come back I think. We haven't said much in the owls, so that's just a theory."

"Either way I'm grateful."

"Glad to hear it." He motioned for Arthur to follow him into the kitchen, where Kreacher had just finished cleaning up after dinner.

"What's on your mind Harry?"

"Am I going to have to hear something from your wife about stealing her second oldest son from his family?" His tone was one of tired curiosity.

"She regrets saying that about Bill, and would have told you so if you had let her last night."

"Sorry Arthur, but what she said yesterday afternoon was still ringing in my ears. It still is. If I talked to her right now, which Molly would I be getting? The one that I heard with my own ears? Or the one that you claim is remorseful?"

"I'm not trying to say that you have no cause to be mad at her Harry, and of course you're part of the family and you always will be, but Molly is an emotional person and sometimes say things that she doesn't mean in the heat of the moment." This was a tad bit rehearsed sounding, because it was.

"Yet all I hear from her is how I split your family……and I really did not appreciate having Ginny thrown in my face."

"Our family is being torn asunder Harry, and she's blaming everyone for it, including you and me."

"Your children are growing up, nothing more or less, aside from Percy. Did she really expect all of them to live at home until they got married?"

"She's a loving person who loves having her family within easy reach, and I'm getting weary of pointing out her good traits to you."

"Have a seat then, maybe that will give you some strength."

"Very funny." Arthur remained standing.

"If only I was trying to be funny."

It seemed that there was an impasse.

"Okay then Harry, tell me what you need from us to fix this."

"How can I fix this when your wife claims that I'm the inherent problem? I'm the one who's plucked away Bill and George, and now Charlie, and somehow made Ron forgive me for stealing Hermione, while goading Ginny into attacking me, all while raising a child that you lot don't believe I have the chops to raise."

"I can't deny that she's said all that." He certainly wished he could now, he was mildly shocked at how long and true Harry's laundry list was.

"Well then just convince her to stop saying any of that, and everything will be fine. That's all that needs to happen to fix it. That and no grief about Charlie and where he's sleeping. He's a big boy and can do what he pleases. Just like Bill."

"I know, and I hope that she will see, like I have, that Charlie would likely not have come back without your machinations. Better that he be here with you than in Romania without any of us."

"Like I said, I won't say anything if she doesn't………but if she does, if she keeps going on like this, you and she will no longer be welcome in my home for any reason. Just like I no longer feel welcome in your home."

"I don't know how much longer I can keep agreeing with you here, yet still be ignored."

"That's the personas that you two have adopted. We know that she gets what she wants from you, and you get what you want from her only if she approves of it. It's not how I plan to do it, but I'm not criticizing what has given you, by and large, a very happy life. I'm just saying that you don't speak for her, you apologize for her."

Arthur wasn't at all sure how to take that, especially because he couldn't really deny any of it.

"You'll find that marriage is a complicated process Harry. And you still didn't answer my question."

"I think I did. Get her, however you need to, to lay off me, and things can go back to some semblance of the way they were."

"I will do my level best, and I hope I can count on your restraint while I do."

"I will do my level best." Said with sardonic smile.

The rest of the evening offered no fireworks, other than Kreacher looking incredulously at Harry that yet another Weasley would be living at 12, along with George and a still reluctant to go back to The Burrow Ron. Counting Harry, Hermione, Neville, Teddy, and Kreacher himself, that meant 12 had eight people and one house elf residing there.

"Get over it Kreacher, they're a lot less trouble than they could be."

"If Master says so." Kreacher added this remark dubiously.

"I do…..and remind me of the last time you were struck or insulted?"

"It has been a long time, yes Master." It was as close to Kreacher could get of saying fair enough.

"Be either polite and/or quiet around my friends, and it's guaranteed to stay that way."

Kreacher shrugged, he knew a good deal when he had it.

Sunday October 5, 1999

Cannon Stadium, outside Birmingham, England

2:00 pm

Charlie was introduced to the Puddlemere players during the pre-game meal, and his addition to their roster was greeted with raised eyes from a few players, but no outward comments other than greetings and handshakes. It helped that Clive said:

"Charlie will mark Harry in practice, but for the time being Roger will still be the backup Seeker, with April taking Roger's place as Chaser." Roger Davies was considered to be the least effective of the starting Chasers, and 20 year old Irishwoman April MacStruan was primed to take his spot over at some point during the season.

Harry surprised them all by asking to say a few words, as the team's lone rookie he had never said a word during these types of meetings.

"I just want to say that one of my best mates is Charlie's brother Ron, and I've had to listen to him talk about the Cannons for the last eight years, on and on, on and on. Please help me shut him up."

A loud roar from the assembled players and coaches, everyone loose and smiling as they prepared to play their replacements as the League's bottom feeders. As they all walked to the field later, Clive made a point of walking next to Harry.

"That was a nice speech Harry."

"Thank you sir."

"Let's not drag it out though, if you don't mind."

"Oh I wouldn't do that sir, it's only my mate's favorite team……leaving aside that you told me before never to do it again anyway." Harry took orders from Bill, and from Clive, that was it……..but he did take his orders from Clive very seriously, and the older man could tell.

"I'm glad you remember. You're a valuable member of this team Harry, you've made a large difference for us."

"I appreciate you saying that sir." And he did, Clive's method of complimenting was usually a lack of criticism.

"When it's just us talking Harry, my name is Clive." He patted Harry on the shoulder and walked away, going up to the visiting owner's box where his wife was waiting.

As the announcers only gave the starting lineups, Charlie wasn't mentioned. Nor was he visible much, wearing a hat to boot as the game started. Chudley fans, and there were some besides Ron believe it or not, were familiar with their team being Ron's favorites, and that Ron was close to Harry……so as much as Harry had been booed in his first few road games, it was nothing compared to what he got here. More than one Sonorous was put on as well, so the only actual words heard in his introduction were:

"And at Seeker…………"

Ron didn't boo, or cheer, Harry, but instead clapped politely, knowing that the rest of his family was watching him. Molly, to her credit perhaps, was clapping and cheering for Harry as loud as anyone, as she hoped Hermione would so inform our boy.

Of course Harry wasn't aware of any of this, he was flying well above the fray as the Chasers on each team traded the Quaffle back and forth once the whistle sounded and the balls went up. He took special note of the Cannon's Seeker, a fellow Gryffindor like himself, who had graduated a year before Bill. He didn't have that great a reputation, and the Cannons had felt out Draco Malfoy about being their pick in the draft, right behind Harry as it turned. But he had declined, something that set a lot of our events in motion, or at least kept them there.

At the 15 minute mark it was already 60-0, as a worried for his position Roger Davies had scored a hat trick to start the game with. The strength for the Cannons, inasmuch as they had one, was their Keeper, a former Slytherin that Harry, Oliver, and Katie had played against back in their Hogwarts days, but the guy had no help from anyone on his team, and Puddlemere quickly scored another half dozen goals in ten minutes. Soon it would be past the 150 point margin, and Harry could relax a little more.

The score had just hit 140-0 when two figures on brooms appeared in the distance. No one noticed them at first, the Cannons pitch was small enough in capacity that the spectators didn't really need omnioculars. But they came closer and closer to the action, not hanging back as they drew their wands and started firing.

At first the firing was for effect, more like magical tracer rounds than anything designed to hit, but they were still going near full speed as they walked their fire into the area where Harry was loitering, waiting for the Snitch.

It was Hermione who noticed them first, she saw the first two shots and pointed her arm at what she saw with her eyes, but couldn't believe with her brain. After the third shots from each of the intruders, she found her voice.

"We're under attack!"

The noise from the crowd was sufficient that only those in her immediate surroundings heard her. But they included all the present members of the Order, and George reacted first, putting his wand to his throat.

"Harry, get out of there!"

He had been looking the other way until then, and once he did look up, it was to see a red light headed right for his face. He barely managed to dodge it, it was less than half a meter from him as he did. He was paranoid enough these days that he always kept his wand on him, but the action above him was chaotic enough that he didn't dare start firing now. Instead he righted himself from the slight spin after the dodging, and then headed up with his wand out.

He was joined by Katie, and as the referee was blowing her magically enhanced whistle as hard as she could, Oliver. They got into an arrowhead formation as the attackers got close enough that they could aim a lot better…….that is, if they weren't coming under fire now themselves. The Puddlemere Three were firing Expelliarmus as quickly as they could, hoping to stop those red lights coming at them. They were on a collision course until both of the attackers were hit, losing their wands to the ground as they were suddenly defenseless. So each of them, thinking independently, decided to haul ass. They turned around as tightly as they could and tried to get out of Dodge.

If only it was that easy.

Upon seeing Harry, Oliver, and Katie go from defense to offense, as it were, the Cannons Captain, son of the Head Auror in Ireland as it happened, put his wand to his throat and screamed at his players.

"Cannon players, get up there and cut off any escape routes!"

The other Puddlemere players thought that this was a splendid idea as well, and the remaining 11 players on both teams quickly fanned out into a semi-loose perimeter, soon joined by the reserves on each team. All of these being professional flyers other than Charlie, everyone was in position within three seconds of the bandits turning around. And every single one of them were relieved when they saw their opponents' wands go tumbling to the earth.

Aerial combat is taught at every Auror Academy in the world, but only Durmstrang taught it at the teenager level, so our heroes were not used to going full bore in the air while at the same time firing spells. It was one thing to do it as the groups were headed for each other, but whomever had supplied the bandits with their brooms had given them the best brooms that galleons could buy.

But professionals are professionals for a reason, and Harry started off with only an eight meter disadvantage to his nearest foe, as he ate up the distance with every second. It only took 20 to catch the near one, who was approaching two of the Cannons on the outer perimeter anyway, both of them with their wands aimed right for him. They didn't fire for fear of hitting Harry.

Who had no such compunctions himself as he fired Stupefy every time he got a remotely good angle, it was the easiest to say of the offensive spells he was comfortable with, as Harry was getting more and more out of breath due to the stress of the events. One thing he wondered though:

"Why wasn't this guy Apparating away?" There were no wards up outside the playing area, as they were right now, and it should have been simple enough.

"Stupefy!" For the 13th time, and it was a winner, catching the first bandit on the back of the head, knocking him out immediately.

And also knocking him off his broom, but the two Cannons were prepared for that, and they raced down and slowed his descent to a leisurely enough pace that he hit the ground without further physical damage other than the inevitable headache one gets after taking a Stunner to the head at a meter's range.

Harry looked over and found that Oliver and Katie had corralled the other bandit, it would turn out that Katie got him with a lucky shot from five meters to the elbow. But the placement of a Stunner doesn't matter as long as it's a direct hit.

As a matter of course there was a DMLE official at all Quidditch games just in case, usually for drunken fans who fired their wands at the players. This happened more often than the League was comfortable with, hence the DMLE person.

Who suddenly was very important right now. Her name was Kendra Olshansky, and was one of the most senior people in the department, as Kingsley made sure that an experienced person was at all of Harry's games just in case. Once the bandits were on the ground, she quickly rushed out to the playing ground and put another Stunner in each of them, just in case.

The game announcer was pleading with the fans to keep order amongst themselves, and it was working for the most part, as relatively few scuffles broke out, none of them using magic. Arthur, assuming that he was the senior Ministry person in attendance, made his way down to the field to consult with Olshansky. By the time he got there, all of the players were on the ground as well. He hurried over to his friends.

"Harry, you okay? Oliver? Katie?"

Nods all around that things were fine, only Katie had even been grazed by a spell, and that one hit the edge of her robes.

"That was some good fighting you three, you herded them right into the perimeter."

That wasn't really the plan of course, but they all nodded as if it was.

"I'd better go over there and help Kendra. Come along, I'm sure Kingsley will here presently."

Harry was sure about that, but he was also sure about:

"I'm not going anywhere near those people Arthur, I've already supplied The True Voice with a second headline today, after our Percy dustup on Friday night.. Let the putative professionals handle it from here on." In fact he made a point of taking a few paces away from the fallen bandits.

Meanwhile, the managers were conferring with the referee. The game was currently suspended of course, but they were discussing of how quickly to start it back up. The referee flew over to where the Cannons and Puddlemere's were all congregated.

"Players, we will resume the game in five minutes time. The score is currently 140-0 in favor of Puddlemere. Do any of you have any objections?" She had been incredulous that both managers wanted the game to continue, and was looking right at Harry as she asked for objections.

Harry answered him by looking at his fellow players.

"Come on folks, let's get back in the air." Said in as casual a voice as he could muster at present. Everyone on both teams did as he wanted, and once up there, just waited for the referee to get ready.

Kingsley and a full squad of Aurors arrived seconds after the referee re-released the Quaffle and the two Bludgers, resuming the game.

For reasons he couldn't fully explain to himself at the time, Harry wanted nothing more than to take a magical shot right at the Head Auror. But he held off, and fervently hoped that the Snitch would be cooperative.

It was, after another 11 minutes and four Puddlemere goals. The little golden ball just suddenly appeared in front of him, allowing him to grab it after a two second chase. It was, ironically, his most exciting Quidditch match of the year, while being his easiest catch of the Snitch. The final score was 330-0 for Puddlemere, they were now 5-2, with Chudley falling to 0-7.

The crowd, still a bit subdued after everything that had happened, politely applauded Puddlemere as they flew their victory lap. Puddlemere Captain Brian Porter led his team in a much more heartfelt series of handshakes than usually happened. The fraternity/sorority of Quidditch players was a tight one, and that showed up this day in spades.

Once on the ground, for good this time, Harry made a point of taking his sweet time ambling over to Kingsley and Arthur. Flanked by Oliver and Katie, he addressed them.

"Am I needed here?"

End Chapter


	25. Waiting in the Weeds

Author's Note: In screw up news, I have given two different last names to the owner of Puddlemere United. First he was Clive Fitzgerald, then it was Clive Reynolds. You'd think with so few OC's in this story that I could get their names correct every time, but I didn't. Sorry about that. For the record, his name is Clive Fitzgerald, and a point could be made that he's not totally OC, since someone has to own/manage Puddlemere, I just gave him a name.

Sunday, October 5, 1999, continued

3:00 pm

Cannon Stadium, near Birmingham, England

"Am I needed here?" Harry looked right in the center of Kingsley and Arthur, not seemingly addressing either of them individually.

Kingsley, of course, was the one to answer.

"For the record, if the three of you could give a quick briefing of your spells fired to my assistant here. Of course you're not in any trouble, but for the trials of your attackers." He added that last sentence after seeing the looks of outrage on the faces of Katie and Oliver.

"Nothing but Expelliarmus and Stupefy for me." Harry had been very careful not to show a visible reaction to the question. In that he was very much aping Kingsley himself, and consciously.

"Same here." Oliver.

"I tried Petrificus Totalus one time, but it takes too long to say up there." Katie.

Harry proffered his wand to Kingsley himself, safe end first, and the Head Auror had no choice but to do Priori Incantatem on it, which confirmed Harry's account.

"I'm sorry Harry, but again, it's for the official record." He quickly did the same for the wands of Oliver and Katie, and found them likewise to be telling the truth. There were a lot of people left over from the crowd still watching them, but no one could get within non-shouting distance because of the Ministry personnel on the ground.

"No need to apologize, I admire that you're being so thorough."

By now, Kingsley knew that something was coming after this kind of compliment, and he wasn't disappointed.

"You're welcome."

"But in interests of fairness, I think the three of us would like you to perform the same test on the wands of these lumps in front of us, just so that we can see what was fired at us." Said in a pleasant sounding voice that Arthur, standing mute next to his Ministry colleague, was beginning to dread hearing.

Kingsley had no choice, and he knew it, and he really couldn't blame Harry anyway, he would want to know too. So he did the same spell on the captured wands, and the wands showed that it was mostly the same Bone Breaker Curse that Draco had used on Percy, though they didn't know that, and that there were two Avada Kedavra curses fired from each wand.

Harry just smiled blandly at Kingsley and Arthur.

"I believe that we have attempted murder here, and I am more than happy to press charges." The curse log was unclear on whether the Killing Curses had been fired at Katie and Oliver, but one look from Harry at his two cohorts prompted them to start agreeing.

"I agree with Harry, I want them put away for this. No deals."

"I agree with the boys, a life sentence at Azkaban is warranted here. Nothing less."

Unbeknownst to Kingsley, Clive Fitzgerald and his wife had come up to the conversation. Lenora Fitzgerald, whose family Puddlemere had been in for generations, was one of the few female members of The Wizengamot, and upon seeing her both Arthur and Kingsley stood up a little straighter. She spoke:

"So what have you discovered about the assault on one of our players?"

Kingsley related what little they knew, plus that it was a bit more than assault.

"I understand that you have an investigation to conduct, and I wouldn't dream on interfering. But I expect a daily update to be delivered to my office."

Kingsley was unsure of his ground here. Lenora Fitzgerald was a prominent member of The Wizengamot and a powerful member of their society. But this was textbook conflict of interest, given that she would be on the body judging these two men, with an obvious bias to boot, in that her players were involved. So he chose to agree for the moment, hoping that Robards or Amos would overrule him later on.

"Yes ma'am, I'll have something for you this evening."

"Thank you. Harry, Oliver, Katie, you were magnificent up there, a team in more than just Quidditch you are. I'm very proud of you." She shook hands with each of them.

All three players were beaming, especially given that she was doing in front of Kingsley, they knew how powerful their owner was. She stared hard at Kingsley.

"Now, are we concluded here? Our players have some celebrating to do."

"Yes ma'am, Harry, if you wouldn't mind coming by my office tomorrow afternoon after lunch, I'd like to speak with you about the bigger picture that's going on here."

"I'll be there, say 2:00 pm?"

"Looking forward to it." He wasn't really, not with these new developments.

With polite goodbyes, Kingsley and his crew policed up the perps and took off back to the home office. Arthur excused himself to go back to the stands, leaving just the five of them on the field to walk back to the dressing room.

"Harry, if that man gives you any problems tomorrow, feel free to use my name however you have to." Lenora and Clive had always stayed out of the Dumbledore/Voldemort wars, they were rich enough to get away with that as long as they didn't seem to take a side.

"Thanks ma'am, I appreciate that." He was smiling politely, but on the inside he was laughing wildly at the thought of threatening Kingsley with her. This was going to be good.

They got to the dressing room, only to be met with a long cheer and applause from their fellow team members……..every one of whom agreed, if only in their own minds, that only Harry was targeted here today. But he was one of them, one of only two Seekers in the League with a perfect record so far. And 5-2 was 5-2, Clive had taken a lot of flack for essentially bringing back his entire team other than Seeker. But it had paid off in a big way, as the Chasers and Oliver now knew that they only had to keep the game close, and Harry would more than likely get them over the top. The entire League was now on a two week hiatus from games, the powers that be not wanting to take away from the tilts at Hogwarts the next two Saturdays, though there would be a full practice schedule.

Harry, Oliver, and Katie took their accolades with good grace and humility. As they went to their lockers, which of course were right in a row with each other, Harry had this to say:

"I'll never forget what you guys did up there. Never."

Both his friends were smiling at him, as Katie put her arm around him.

"You'd have done the same for us in a second, and you know it." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her boyfriend agreeing wholeheartedly.

"I'll never have to do it for either of you, but I'll find some way to pay you back, trust me." He meant that they would never be the targets of such an assault as he was, but they got that.

They got their showers in, and changed. Afterwards they went up into the stands, where Bill was telling the Wood and Bell families some of the background on the drama that they had witnessed. It wasn't much more than had been talked about in The Quibbler special editions, but he added some pro-Harry slant to even that. No mention was made of The Order, or that Oliver and Katie were as important to it as they were coming to be, as non-Weasley/12/Hogwarts people, with no personal agendas. That was big as far as Bill was concerned.

The entire Order, including it's newest members, assembled at 12 following the game. Rachel Brunsden had made a case for her husband Neil to be included as well, saying that she didn't want to have to explain where she was going, or have to think about what she said every time there was something in the paper. Neil owned a small magical pet store in Diagon Alley, a stone's throw from WWW, so George and Ron already knew him, and approved of him. He would not be active unless absolutely necessary, but it would make sure that no spouse was left out of things altogether.

Lavender was different, she had told Ron, without prompting, that while she admired that he was apparently doing something about the Malfoys, she wasn't interested in getting involved just yet. No one was trying to talk her out of it, but everyone was pleased that Ron was happy and had moved on from Hermione. While everyone was eating, before the meeting officially started, he and Harry had a quick talk.

"Does the offer for me to stay here stand?"

"Of course, as long as you like." Harry was mentally grousing, he now owed Luna a galleon. She had predicted this to a very skeptical at the time Harry less than a week ago. But he was still glad to have Ron around.

"And Lavender is welcome?" Ron had been wondering about that.

"Well not to move in, not without the parchments and things. We might have to have her sign the secrecy one anyway." Harry was so looking forward to that conversation with Lavender, though he did have to admit that she had been great with Teddy. But still, the line had to be drawn somewhere.

"I wasn't thinking about her moving in, but staying the night and stuff like that." There was no shame in his voice either, not with knowing what Harry and Hermione were likely up to on a nightly basis.

"As long as it's legal, what you do in your bedroom is your business and none of mine."

"I appreciate how you put that. I'd like to stay then, Mum and Dad need some time, and I don't want to be the only one to move back, and be the focal point of their attentions." He really meant his mother's attention, but surely Harry of all people understood that.

"I'm not sure how to put this, so I'll just say it flat out: You can handle Hermione and I?"

"I have so far haven't I?"

Heh heh.

"True, but now you'll be down the hall for the near and midterm future, her living here now and all." Not that Hermione's parents had been told, officially. But they knew.

"I'm fine with it, trust me, I would have cracked by now if I was going to." They both smiled.

"The Ginny talks didn't work out?"

"I didn't really discuss it with her, I don't think I would be comfortable being in the next bedroom when she has a guy over, or even waiting for her to come back from a date. It's hypocritical of me I know, but that doesn't make it any less true."

If Ron had asked Ginny flat out, she would have told him that she had the same reservations. She was currently in roundabout discussions with Luna about the two of them sharing a place.

"I can understand that. Is she going to be pissed at you for staying here?" He wasn't hoping for a yes, but not dreading one either.

"I would imagine, but it's not going to be a big thing. I'll kick in for food and stuff like that, you know how much I eat."

Harry knew, from George, what Ron took from the shop in salary, and it wasn't half bad. So he didn't object, especially given how much Ron ate.

"I do the shopping most nights, come with me tomorrow night and we can figure out what you like and stuff like that."

"Thanks, again, I appreciate it."

"You're always welcome in my home Ron, never doubt that mate."

They shared a grin, it seemed that they were past Hermione now, and back a bit to the way things were.

The Order, everyone being there, collectively decided that there would be no response to what was likely to be the third edition of The True Voice the next day. Kingsley and Robards, for reasons known only to them, had neglected to forward the advance copy they undoubtedly had. But everyone knew it was coming.

As of 1:30 pm, when Molly and Arthur had departed from The Burrow, no owl had been received from Percy. Nor had one been gotten by the later departing Penelope, a Qudditich hater who since Hogwarts had refused to go to any games. An owl from Zurich would likely take longer than a domestic one, but Molly in particular was on pins and needles even during the Order meeting.

Bill too was waiting for an owl from Zurich, but it was from his 'friend' Mareke, whose business Percy would be starting work in in a week's time. He had asked her to keep an eye on him once he reported in, and see what he was up to. Nothing in the parchment that banished Percy said anything about his political activities once he left Britain, but Bill knew that if Percy got into trouble, Molly and Arthur would blame him and Harry for it, for the banishment. He knew that they wouldn't blame Percy, they never did.

Monday, October 6, 1999

Ministry of Magic, Office of the Head Auror

2:00 pm

The True Voice had not been published this day, much to the surprise of everyone with an interest in what it might have said. Still, Harry kept his appointment with Kingsley, despite being incredibly wary of what might happen there. He and Bill, in their own little meeting right beforehand, had agreed that Bill would wait until 3:00 pm before coming to call himself, with Lenora Fitzgerald if possible, if Harry didn't turn up. He flooed in right on the dot, from Hogwarts, and Kingsley waved at him to have a seat. He offered Harry something to drink, which was declined, as Harry leaned back in his seat.

"So, no True Voice today Kingsley, what's that all about?" He was sure that the drink was laced with something, no sense taking any chances.

"It would appear that yesterday's attackers might not have been working for the Malfoys."

"Say what?"

"Under Veritaserum they claim that they that they were not working for Lucius Malfoy or any of his known associates."

"What makes you think that they were told the truth of who they were working for?"

"Because they said that they were working for themselves."

Harry took a couple dozen seconds to contemplate that, much to Kingsley's satisfaction.

"So we have copycats?" This was just great, kill the giant head, Voldemort, and a bunch of little heads are growing in it's place.

"Here's what we know. The two men are named Edmund Keynes and Peter Moseley, both Hogwarts graduates who attended school with your parents and Snape and company, though they graduated a bit later. Both Slytherins, but with no known Death Eater ties. They were not involved in the last war, both of them were in Canada at the time. They have no criminal records, nor were they on our watch list." The watch list was mainly about those suspected of criminal activities, or capable of grand ones. Harry himself was near the top of said list, though Kingsley would never tell him that.

"Can you tell if they've had their memories modified?"

"There's nothing recent, even the most skilled Obliviator can only detect the signature within a year of the modification. That doesn't answer the overall question though, I agree." The older man may have sounded calm, but he was very worried about this new development.

"So what's your theory?"

"Before I answer that, I want your assurance that this stays between the two of us." He waited for the quibble and it was not long in coming.

"And Bill. You've undoubtedly kicked this around with Robards, I should be allowed the same."

"Fair enough I suppose, Bill has proven himself capable. But I want something in return for this briefing." He had learned that giving Harry a taste of his own medicine was the only way to go here.

"The Percy story I'm guessing." He and Bill had agreed to fork over the story if necessary, and this seemed to be worth it.

"In detail."

"Alright then, but you first."

"My theory is that Moseley and Keynes are sleeper agents, put into deep cover long ago."

"By whom?"

"We don't know that yet, but one can assume that it's Malfoy related, Lucius was one of Voldemort's lieutenants, and was for a long time. Of course it could have been Pettigrew, or any number of others, we just don't know. It's not entirely out of the question that Voldemort might have done it himself."

"Or it could have been someone who sat out the war entirely, and is planning on picking up the pieces."

That described not a few people, including Gawain Robards, Minister of Magic.

"Be very careful about accusations like that Harry, we both know who you're talking about." A hint of warning in his voice.

"I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but look me in the eye and tell me that it didn't occur to you too."

"I have no comment either way, and I won't go there no matter how hard you care to try to press me."

"I wasn't going to really. But know this, as far as my group is concerned, your loyalty is to him first, and everything else afterward. That's the case until you tell me differently." Surely Kingsley swept his office daily for anything Robards might put in there, or so Harry thought.

Unless Kingsley knew of the Listener(s) in the first place, and didn't want the placer of it/them to know that he knew. Or anything like that.

"Duly noted Harry, and likewise I note that your loyalty is to The Order and not to The Ministry."

"Well The Ministry has not exactly been my friend over the years now has it? Have I said a negative word publicly about our dear Minister? Have I?" He had had plenty of opportunities to do so as well.

"No, you have not."

"Then don't complain, it's an improvement over how I saw Fudge, Scrimgeour, and Thicknesse, the unholy trinity." He still got the shakes sometimes when he thought of how close Fudge had come to chucking him into Azkaban, the idea of being railroaded into prison by that monument to mediocrity still made his skin crawl.

He said that last bit with such disdain that Kingsley couldn't help but chuckle, and Harry joined him.

"I do so enjoy fencing with you Harry, I have to admit."

"You like it because I'm not bound by the same rules that the people here are. I have no territory to defend, and I can be straight with you."

"I'm sure that's a big part of it." If Kingsley was to be candid, that would be almost all of it here.

"So what's to be done with the two from yesterday?"

"They'll sit in prison for a week or so and stew, then we'll offer them a plea bargain: 20 years, no parole. They'll take it, and die in Azkaban."

"Is Azkaban it's old self, with no Dementors?"

"There are new ways of making it unpleasant, we've spent the last year experimenting. Nothing that will remove your soul of course, but still, not a day at the beach either."

"I wonder what Mrs. Fitzgerald might think of you allowing them to leave prison in 20 years." He doubted that the prisoners would be allowed to die.

A look washed over Kingsley's face that made Harry want to giggle. But in the interests of continued harmony, he restrained himself.

"Be careful when you invoke her Harry, it's not a well that can be gone too that often."

"I beg to differ Kingsley old bean, I'm her star Seeker, the one who will deliver the League Championship to her before long. I'm not saying that she'll do as I please, far from it. But she'll indulge me at your expense if I ask her really nicely."

Kingsley believed every word of that, but he didn't dare reveal his own strategies here, or his own worries. So he ignored it.

"Now, Percy." He was mentally wagering that only half of what Harry told him would be a lie.

"We found out that Percy was working for the Malfoys, not for you."

This one Kingsley thought was the truth, probably. But it still didn't surprise him.

"How long did you and Bill debate on whether to question him?" What he really wanted to know was when Percy had been discovered.

"Way too bloody long." No way was he giving specifics there.

"Arthur and Molly must have had something to say about it."

"Oh they were okay about it for the most part, they love Percy but don't trust him." Somehow Harry kept a straight face while saying this.

"With good reason. How did he evade our Veritaserum tests?"

"He vanished the drink, apparently Percy's wandless skills are pretty good. Not that they did him any good with us, but he fooled you. Did you really believe that he was working for you?"

"He passed the tests, answered every question the right way, with or without drugs. And he was very valuable, if used correctly. He had an in with the Malfoys, and with you."

"Not with me personally, I never liked Percy."

"Nor did I, but that's neither here nor there. Did you torture him?"

"I ripped some hair out when he called Hermione a mudblood."

Kingsley burst out laughing, and his guffaws could be heard out in the anteroom.

"You didn't." He was delighted at hearing that, for reasons that he wasn't even sure about himself. But Kingsley, a pureblood though he was, disliked the word mudblood almost as much as Harry did.

"Oh but I did." That memory never failed to elicit a smile from Harry.

Harry then proceeded to give Kingsley the parts of the Percy story that he and Bill wanted the other man to know, including the hair ripping and the revelation that Percy had goaded Ginny into her 'attack' on Harry. On the need to know, Kingsley assumed as much after the 10 minute spiel was over.

"That can't be all of it." Still, it was quite a bit, and worth the deal that he had struck.

"It's the professional part of it Kingsley, you don't need to know the intra-Weasley dynamics and things like that."

"So Percy is gone then, forever?"

"Essentially, the agreement dies when the four signatories die, if we die before Percy of course." He had neglected to name said signatories, and Kingsley wasn't stupid enough to ask a question that he wouldn't get an answer to. He was in doubt that the older man would guess that Oliver was the last name on the list.

"Does he know that?"

"He believes that the opposite is the case, and he doesn't have a copy of it anyway. Bill doubts that he looked at it for two seconds before he signed it."

"Rather foolish of him I would think, you should always read anything you sign your name too. Especially in our society." He remembered Marietta Edgecombe all of the sudden, and now understood things a bit better.

"Well the alternative to was to expose his real loyalties to you and Robards, so I'm thinking that he didn't want to tempt us into changing our minds."

"And did it factor into your thinking that I might be a wee bit pissed at you for denying me the chance to talk to Percy myself? On two different occasions no less."

"It did occur to me, thank you. But Percy is family first and foremost, much as I wish he weren't. Besides, you can always go to Zurich and talk to him if you want to." Bill and Fleur had warned Percy of that fact right before he left, but the younger man did not seem unduly worried. In Switzerland, Kingsley would have no authority over Percy, and could not compel him to do much of anything.

"Has he communicated with you people since?"

"Not as of last night, no. But owls take some time to get here from that far away."

"Will he really stay there?"

"Beats the living snitch out of me, and that's the truth. I don't really know him well enough to judge whether or not he would. He's a hard guy to read."

"So are you, now."

"You're wishing I was the old Harry who could be read like a magazine." He knew that Molly and Arthur wished much the same thing, Ginny too perhaps.

"No, I'm not really. What made it easy for the rest of us, also made it easy for your enemies."

"Speaking of whom, is an agreement possible to move against the Malfoys?"

"Your move or ours?"

"Preferably in concert."

"A joint assault?" He had a hard time fathoming that Harry and Bill would put themselves under Ministry control for such an assault, even if the control was Kingsley's himself.

"Eventually, but I'm thinking of some way of humiliating them, again."

"Why not take them out in one shot?"

"For the same reasons that Robards won't let you do it: We need to beat them down first, otherwise someone will just take their place. That was the problem with Voldemort, not that we had much of a range of options there. But they aren't him, there's not a one of them with the cachet or power that he had. So not only would it be a terrible idea to go for a surgical strike, it's not necessary."

"So tell me your plan."

"We don't have one yet, , not an overall plan anyway, and I promise you that's the truth. Remember, not counting Molly, we all have full time careers and things to do, we can't be dreaming up anti-Malfoy plans day and night. This is your thing, the reason you get paid whatever you get paid."

"It's not as much as you, trust me." Kingsley had played Beater back in the day, and always rued that he had not tried pursuing Quidditch as a career.

"Well as far as I'm concerned Hogwarts professors should make more than Quidditch players too, but that's not my call, and is a problem the world over. Do you get my point though? We shouldn't HAVE to come up with the plan, the mere fact that The Order exists, and needs to exist, is a huge problem in our society."

Kingsley was a little flummoxed at hearing Harry talk like this. He pondered the words for a moment, and then threw out his pie in the sky hope.

"Then disband it, disband The Order of the Phoenix and fold it into The Dark Force Defense League. The Minister will restart it, and put you and Bill on the leadership council of it. Amos would be the titular Head since he's the DMLE Head, but we all know that you and Bill would run circles around him anyway. Get yourselves within the system and change it that way, if you feel that it needs changing so much." It almost sounded like a plea.

"Dumbledore tried that, remember? It was a rotting system, and he believed that he could effect change from within, all because he thought his arguments were the best. But he couldn't, and he paid for it with his life because Fudge and Scrimgeour forced him more and more into a corner, and ultimately he couldn't get out."

"He could have if he had wanted to, you know that Harry. Albus Dumbledore was always destined to be a martyr, it was how he wanted to go. Just like Snape."

Harry scoffed.

"Snape never knew what he wanted. Yes, he wound up on the right side, in the end. I couldn't have defeated Voldemort without him, but no man on either side was more conflicted than he was."

"You are hardly unbiased when it comes to Snape." Snape had always amused Kingsley, before Dumbledore's death anyway, he thought that the greasy haired Potions Master tried a bit too hard to be so unlikable, almost as if in parody of it.

"No one is unbiased when it comes to Snape, that was what he wanted. You either loved him or hated him, and took him on those terms."

"Are you happy that he's dead?" Kingsley himself couldn't really decide, he couldn't decide whether or not the ends really justified the means with Snape.

"Yes, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. He made my life very unpleasant for six years, when there were ways around that, if he had only tried. But he and Dumbledore felt that they had to toughen me up before the final confrontation."

"It worked."

"At what cost though? I was an abused child for years, and even after the victory I was an insomniac for 14 months. That's why we restarted The Order in the first place, because of the cost of the last war, and the fact that we just can't count on The Ministry to handle it. Or to want to handle it. We lost Remus, Tonks, Fred, Dumbledore, so many others. If we let the Malfoys win this time, they will all have died for nothing Kingsley."

This had occurred to Kingsley as well over the last year and change, and his riposte was ready:

"It's different this time, The Ministry is different. Gawain Robards is not Fudge, or even Scrimgeour. He's got brains, and doesn't care about money, two things that Fudge could never claim with a straight face. We have operations ongoing, things you lot know nothing about, that will stop all of this nonsense before it ever gets started. But if you and your group undermine us, take away the publics' faith in their government, then it's Pius Thicknesse all over again, and we're no better off."

Harry could understand that argument, even sympathize with it, but for one thing:

"My friend, you're asking for faith that I just don't have."

"Give us time to convince you. Help us."

"I am helping mate, I've given you half a dozen prisoners who attacked me and mine, not the other way round."

"And I have been appropriately grateful I believe."

"You haven't been ungrateful, let's not take it too far. Look, I believe in you. You as in Kingsley Shacklebolt. But that's as far as I'm willing to go right now. That's as far as The Order of the Phoenix is willing to go right now."

"What does he have to do to get that faith then?" He, meaning Robards.

"Stop playing defense, and go on offense. I'm not saying that you should arrest every contributor to The True Voice, but The Ministry can't just lay back and let them take shots at you every time. Robards told me that sometimes the view from the high road is such that you have to pretend that you don't see certain things. But the problem is, you get so used to that way of going about things, that you might start to miss things." He looked at his watch, they had just hit the 30 minute mark.

"So in other words, when the next issue of the Malfoy's paper comes out, you want a Ministry response."

"I want a show of good faith from a government that treated me like shite for years, yes."

"Fair enough Harry, I'll take that to The Minister. Do you want to speak with him yourself?"

"No, I prefer to go through you. You're the one person in the upper echelon here that I trust to do the right thing."

"Not Arthur?" Kingsley had immediately noted the absence.

"Besides him, but he's so openly allied with me that it compromises him around here. Now, I'd better be going, Teddy needs to be picked up." He got up.

"How's that working out?"

"Splendidly, he's a great lad." A fatherly look of pride washed over Harry's face, though he was not aware of it.

"I hear Charlie moved in."

"He did, the house is almost full now. Shall I save you a room?" He laughed as he said it, hoping to break the tense mood.

It worked, they were both smiling now.

"I'm sure my wife would just love having The Boy Who Lived as our landlord, but no thank you."

"Suit yourself." He reached out his hand to shake, and his friend/foe responded in kind.

"So are you going to publicly bitch if we get the 20 years on Moseley and Keynes?" He wanted to make sure that there was going to be no more threatening from Puddlemere's owners in his near future.

"Offer them 30 years and I'll leave it alone. I am the one they tried to kill you know."

"I'm sure they'll take it over the guaranteed life sentences they would get if they went to trial."

"You never know. Let me know if you come across any more sleepers, or potential ones."

"I will, and you do the same. Be careful."

Harry nodded, and took the floo back to Hogwarts. Kingsley retrieved the magical recording device under his desk, and took it to The Minister's office, where his boss was waiting.

After playing him the recording, with no simultaneous commentary, Kingsley looked closely at Robards.

"Well, what do you think Gawain?" Only when it was the two of them did he use first names.

"I think for all the painting into a corner business he was talking about with Dumbledore, he was just doing his best to do the same to you."

"I know, that's our problem now. He's put at least some of his cards on to the table, and he'll expect us to do something."

"Tell me plainly, do you think your friend would ever try an overthrow?"

"Of us? Only if we keep letting the Malfoys take chip shots at him, only then would he go public against us. Harry's going to get tired of them goading him before long. But I agree that we have to do something noticeable against the Malfoys and their ilk now, if only to prevent The Order from doing so first. We can't be seen to be following their lead in anything."

"You're right, and I wish you weren't. Is he going to use Fitzgerald against us?"

"I doubt it, he'll just jokingly threaten us with her, and only pull her in if he really needs her." Kingsley assumed that she was on some sort of standby mode today, even if Fitzgerald herself was not technically aware of it.

"Well that's a relief, we don't need any issues on that front. Okay, put Contingency Plan C into effect, as of right now. That should get Potter off our backs long enough to figure out what we're going to do about him."

"I'll have it up and running by this time tomorrow. What about The True Voice?"

"Who knows about the stories that Moseley and Keynes told you?"

"Myself and the interrogators, maybe four people total including you."

"The moment their rag comes out with details on the two of them, put your interrogators under Veritaserum, with multiple witnesses present. Once we do that, we release that publicly, to The Daily Prophet, as proof that the Malfoys set the whole thing up. That will satisfy Potter and Weasley enough to buy us more time."

"Yes sir."

With a nod from The Minister, his Head Auror was out the door a few seconds later. Lot's to do and not much time to do it in.

Later that night, at Malfoy Manor:

The dinner finished up with a toast, by Lucius:

"To The True Voice, and to the Parkinsons and Malfoys."

Glasses were raised by the three Malfoys and four Parkinsons in attendance, and champagne was sipped by all involved. It was not quite an engagement dinner, the terms were still being negotiated between the two patriarchs, but the engagement of Pansy Parkinson to Draco Malfoy was a done deal by this point, much to the irritation of the betrothed to be.

Draco put up with it because Pansy had always been subservient to him, and that's what he ultimately wanted in a wife. He recognized the concept of love, Draco did, but he knew that he would never trust someone so completely as to give her his whole heart. It was just not going to happen. He knew that his own parents' marriage was not all wine and roses, but it was still the model for what he wanted. Pansy would be a dutiful wife and satisfy his physical needs, no need for anything more than that.

Pansy, while she had always wanted a marriage to Draco in theory, was now wondering if she wanted it in practice. She had always noticed how fundamentally bored and unhappy Naricissa Malfoy had appeared to be, and Pansy assumed that life with Lucius' son would be similar to life with the father. However physically attracted she was to her putative mate, and she was very, it was becoming less and less the determining factor here.

Besides the parents and soon to be happy couple, the seventh member of the dinner party was Anson Parkinson. He and his sister had been doing less and less following of Harry lately, though they had not been replaced as such. They had filed so many reports that said that Harry left Hogwarts and 12 so little that following him was becoming pointless. This lessened his usefulness as an unwilling spy, but perversely it made him more curious as to what was going on. He stood apart, watching his sister and Draco and their small talk. But as soon as Draco excused himself to attend to something, Anson went over to her.

"You okay Pan?"

"I'm fine Anson." She tried to sound fine, but couldn't pull it off.

"I know nothing's official yet, but you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"You know that I've no choice here, I'm surprised that they're waiting this long to do it."

Indeed Chester Parkinson and Lucius were in the latter's study right now, finalizing the dowry, though nothing would be told to anyone else this night.

"Stay over at my place tonight, we need to talk."

"About what?" She was curious now, where was this going?

"Just come over." He didn't dare say anything more here, he wouldn't even trust a scan's results in a house like this.

"Okay, if you want."

Draco never returned, and the Parkinsons left less than an hour later. Pansy still lived with her parents, like Anson she technically worked for the family business, though she had long been seconded to the Malfoys for Harry duty. But the parents didn't raise an eyebrow when she told them that she would be staying the night in her brother's tiny flat.

Once there, while she made them some nighttime tea, Anson shut the floo off and put multiple locks on the door and windows.

"Okay then, what did you want to talk about?"

"You and Draco."

"I get the notion that you don't want me to marry him."

"Not if you don't want to, no."

"Well I don't, but there's no choice. Father told me today that they would be figuring out the dowry and all that." Most pureblood marriages involved a dowry of some sort, even if it was symbolic in nature. Even Fleur had come with one, though it was in the form of a trust fund for the Bill/Fleur issue.

"Did he say what he'll be offering?"

"The family's share of that muggle football team that I can never remember the name of." It was Chelsea, a 20 percent share.

"That's way too valuable to be wasted on those fools." Muggle haters though they were, most purebloods had muggle business interests of some sort, and sports were very high profile and valuable.

"Those fools are about to be family."

"What if there was another way?"

"You mean run? Where? With what? I don't exactly get paid a magnificent sum of galleons for following Potter around." A big reason she still lived at home, though she did make more than Ginny's job at The Ministry.

"We're magical Pansy, we can always make our way in the world."

"You mean with the muggles, don't you? Father and Lucius would hunt us down wherever we went." Sounding dismissive.

"Not if they were brought down."

Pansy was not as dumb as she often appeared to be, but it was still taking her some time to figure this out.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm saying that we need not be yoked to the Malfoys for the rest of our lives." Anson had been married to a niece of Lucius', who had been killed during the Battle of Hogwarts. Hints were being dropped all the time that another Malfoy niece or cousin would be found, to continue the Parkinson branch of the family.

"Wait a minute, what do you want to do here? Run? Or switch sides? They killed your wife Anson!"

"She died in battle Pansy, it wasn't murder. She chose to be there." It goes without saying that Anson had not loved his wife, who in four years of marriage had given him no children.

"You want to side with Potter?"

"Not necessarily. I would rather we not side with anyone if at all possible."

"Just let them fight it out?"

"Nice and simple, and doesn't risk our lives in the process." He thought of it as the Gawain Robards way.

"If only it were that simple though. Our parents might have something to say about it." Pansy was still having difficulty taking this seriously.

"Not if Draco were eliminated, or marginalized."

Dead silence, as Pansy contemplated what she was hearing.

"I still don't see how we do this, if we do it, without some kind of cooperation with Potter."

"Would that be so bad? He won the last time didn't he?"

"Have you already met with him?" A shot in the dark.

But one that would not pay off, though she was right. Anson's Imperious based instructions would not allow him to cop to anything. But it was the unwilling work that he was doing for Bill that had put him on this path.

"No I haven't, and I won't do it without you. But I think that we could cut a deal with him and Bill Weasley that would be to our benefit. We wouldn't join them, per se, but we could funnel them enough information that they would leave us alone after it was over."

"After they win."

"After the current status quo is officially maintained. Life is not so bad right now Pan, is it? I'm not saying that some of what Lucius wants isn't worth having, but is any of it really worth dying for?"

"Dealing with Potter means dealing with Granger." Pansy had always hated Granger, for obvious reasons.

"Granger is too busy teaching at Hogwarts to be of any bother. No, Potter and Bill Weasley will be the ones we deal with, if we do so. Potter will be the key, and he'll do it. We both know that he's changed since Hogwarts."

Pansy, in her heart of hearts, had always had a slight thing for Harry Potter. She was not attracted to him physically as she was to Draco, but there was something about Harry that had always intrigued her. A little of that showed on her face now, and it encouraged her brother.

"I'll think about it okay, just give me some time."

"This is just between us Pan, our parents would never forgive us if they found out."

"I know, I won't say anything. This is just between us."

They sipped their tea, and contemplated.

Tuesday, October 7, 1999

The True Voice was released in the wee hours of the morning, with bundles of it on strategic corners in Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, and Hogsmeade. Hogwarts and Minerva McGonagall had learned some valuable lessons from Umbridge and The Quibbler, and thus did not make any attempt to ban the reading of it. And it was read.

The newspaper, this time 20 pages, was mostly about the Percy Weasley battle the previous Friday. Several 'inside sources' were quoted, and a detailed blow by blow of the battle was given. The sources had also caught the bulk of the questioning of the onlookers, as well as some of Kingsley's byplay with Harry and company. The articles were heavily slanted against Harry of course, but did include all of the relevant facts, leaving none out. There were also several pictures, without attribution, of the melee. This was a first for The True Voice.

The attack on the Chudley/Puddlemere Quidditch game was touched on in one article, toward the back of the paper, and was not a focal point of anything. It merely regurgitated most of what The Daily Prophet had put on their front page the day before, again with a few photos. There was no real slant given to the article, it simply pointed out how increasingly unpopular Harry must becoming, if random people were coming to attack him during his games.

There were the obligatory editorials calling for Harry to be put in St. Mungo's, and Bill was mentioned more than once, as someone who was enabling the continuing mental problems for magical society's most famous living person. No calls were made for Bill to be fired, as even the newspaper's creators knew that the goblins would be laughing through their long noses, but the word 'Weasley' was more in the paper than in the previous two. Yet again there was no mention of Hermione Granger, and Gawain Robards received no stand alone articles about himself this time.

There was one other new aspect of The True Voice, one that careful readers found to be the most interesting parts of the newspaper:

It had advertisements.

A half dozen businesses in Knockturn Alley had placed ads in The True Voice, though none were actually charged money for the privilege. This was because the business owners were all members of the Malfoy organization, and the group felt that it was time that some of them went public with what they wanted. There was a promise of a manifesto and platform in the next issue, which of course would continue to be given away free of charge to the magical population. It was their first attempt at true legitimacy, pun intended.

Harry paid this little mind as he went about the rest of his week, except to note that The Ministry, through Amos Diggory, made it's most forceful denunciation yet of the Malfoys' newspaper. Diggory also paid a visit to Hogwarts on Wednesday and informed a bemused Harry that the four of The True Voice advertisers that did business with the government were going to have their contracts quietly cancelled.

"There are other measures in the works, and we hope that you and your people will hold off any public response for the time being, to allow them to come to fruition."

"You and Kingsley are requesting this?"

"We are, and The Minister has approved of this request." Not quite saying that Robards was asking too, a nice little dance on that line by Amos.

Harry caught that, but he liked it.

"Sure thing Mr. Diggory, I'm always pleased to be able to help my government."

Diggory caught the vaguely mocking tone of that reply, but was willing to take what he could get here. He beat a hasty retreat from Hermione's office, where they were meeting. Being around Harry always reminded him of Cedric, though he was long past holding any ill will toward the younger man for it. Still, he was vaguely troubled at being ordered to try and placate this teenager. But he would report back that Harry had not seemed to be the least bit hostile, and last comment aside, was quite friendly and chatty.

Having finally goaded The Ministry into action, or so they thought, Harry and Bill were content to leave things alone for the remainder of the week. Hogwarts would be hopping on Saturday, with the Gryffindor/Slytherin Quidditch tussle, and everyone in The Order and The True Voice was looking forward to the game.

And for the same reasons no less, one tiny hint of agreement.

End Chapter.


	26. Turnabout Play

Saturday, October 11, 1999

Hogwarts

2:00 pm

There was a sense of strange tension in the lead up to the Slytherin v. Gryffindor Quidditch match today. No one on the non-Malfoy side thought that they would dare try any shenanigans when their preferred House was playing it's hated rival, yet at the same time, just the slight possibility of it was placing people in the know on edge. Kingsley had devoted fully half of his Auror crews to Hogwarts and its environs, with the other half split between Diagon/Knockturn Alley, and The Ministry itself. No one in the DMLE was going to have the day off.

Harry couldn't care less about the Malfoys, since he wouldn't even be in the air, there was never any plan to have him referee this particular game. But this was still his gig, so to speak, and he wanted everything to go smoothly. Before lunch he brought the two Captains together for an off the books meeting. Natalie McDonald was Gryffindor's Captain, with Mitchell Bletchley representing Slytherin.

"Now I just want to make sure that nothing heinous goes on up there today. Rough play is one thing, Quidditch is a contact sport as far as I'm concerned. But I want no blood, or trips to Madam Pomfrey if at all possible." He knew all about the latter, the Hospital Wing could be called Harry Potter Place in his honor, practically.

"We won't start anything Harry, I'll promise you that. But anything they start gets finished by us." Natalie had not played in the worst of the games between the two Houses, but she had seen some bad ones, from even before she was a Hogwarts student.

Bletchley just smiled, and not an evil one at that.

"We just want to play the game, nothing more. I have no axe to grind with anybody on her team, and neither does anyone else on our squad. Draco Malfoy is gone, and so are most of our issues with Gryffindor." He reached out his hand to Natalie, and she took it.

"Now Natalie, you'll forgive me if I don't do that in full view of everyone on the Pitch. I don't want a few hundred Slytherin alums sending me Howlers."

All three of them got a nice laugh out of that one, and Harry was privately relieved that the Slytherin Captain, while uninterested in his Quidditch advice, had a sense of humor.

"You're forgiven Mitch, and I would probably get the same from my side. Except for certain professors of course." She smiled right at Harry.

"Well I'm not a professor, officially. But I'm glad we have détente here. And Mitchell, I know that Slytherin is changing, thanks to people like you. By the time all of our kids are going here, maybe this school can be unified."

That sounded corny to everyone in the room, especially Harry, but they appreciated the effort he was making.

Natalie went off to lunch, and Harry motioned for Bletchley to hang back.

"Put your actions where your mouth is, and it'll be 100 points to Slytherin after the game, in addition to what you get in it from the final score."

"Thanks……Harry."

"My dad is spinning in his grave right now, me offering that many points to a Slytherin."

"Mine's doing likewise for shaking her hand without being forced." His father had, without either of them knowing it, been killed by the late Fred Weasley at the Battle of Hogwarts. Fred had died less than a minute later.

The two shared a look of understanding, and then made their separate ways to lunch.

Harry sat in the faculty section with the other teachers, including Hermione. The two of them had finally be outed as a couple by The Daily Prophet, to the yawns of the British magical public, but this was their first public appearance holding hands and all. On Harry's other side was Giles Keenan, his new fellow Order member and fellow small time gambler of sorts, and Keenan had the over of a 400 points over/under with Harry, for five galleons. Hermione was next to Soren Bender, getting to know her fellow Gryffindor alum and Defense jinx wrecker. Harry had his pair of omnioculars handy, and spied Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy in the stands, sitting in the Slytherin section of course. Narcissa had missed her Teddy visit on Monday due to Harry having to take the lad for a checkup at the local clinic.

The game was a topsy turvy affair whose first half hour was noteworthy in that the players on each team seemed to go out of their way not to make direct contact with each other. One reason was that all four Beaters were new, and couldn't hit the broad side of the castle, but the Chasers too seemed content to just pass and shoot, and try to steal the Quaffle when they were on defense. The score at 30 minutes was 50-50.

Katya Edwalinska, a Hufflepuff in her fourth year, was the announcer, and while she didn't have Lee Jordan's taste for stirring things up, even she was sounding surprised that not one foul had been called in the first half hour. Bletchley himself, the Slytherin Keeper, and Ron's replacement had all the business they could handle though, as shot after shot was launched at them. The Snitch made a few appearances, one near Harry as if to say hello, but never coming within seeing range of the two Seekers, both of them newcomers as well, at least newcomers to their current positions.

Harry just sat there engrossed, watching a Quidditch game for what seemed like the first time in years. He had watched during his suspension during fifth year, but that was one time and he had been watching Umbridge almost as much as the game itself. Otherwise, he had only seen the World Cup finals that one year, during his bye week he had laughingly turned down Ron's invitation to join him at the Cannons' game.

"This is weird, I feel like I should be out there somehow." He muttered this out loud in general, but Keenan was the one who heard it.

"Just wait until next week when you're the referee. Just make sure you don't try to catch the Snitch if it comes near you."

That brought Harry out of his reverie, and he started laughing. He trained his omnioculars on the Malfoys in the Slytherin section. Draco was watching the action as intently as Harry had been, while Narcissa and Lucius were chatting to the people next to them, as if they were at an outdoor cocktail party than a sporting event that they should be paying attention to. Harry took advantage of the fact that they were not paying attention to him personally, and after a few seconds whisper to Hermione, got up from his seat, going to the walkway behind the box, where no one could see him.

"Krepko!"

Krepko was the house elf assigned to Harry while he was at Hogwarts. He was there to run messages and do little errands, all the faculty had one. Given that Harry did little at Hogwarts other than watch practices, Krepko had done very little for him so far. That was about to change.

"Yes Professor Potter?"

"When the game ends, I want you to go to the Slytherin section of the stands, and tell Draco Malfoy that I want to see him in the Great Hall. Tell him to come alone, and that I will be alone, and that all I want is a five minute chat. If he says yes, then follow him and make sure that he's alone. If he's not, come tell me. If he says no, then come tell me that as well. If at all possible make sure that only Draco hears what you're saying. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Thank you Krepko." He nodded at the little elf, who was the perfect balance, personality wise anyway, between the late Dobby, and Kreacher.

Harry wandered back to his seat, and gave a look to Hermione. She shook her head in the negative, telling him that no Malfoy had trained any omnioculars on him while he was gone. He settled back in his chair to watch the last 20 minutes of the game, highlighted by the first Bludger shot by a Beater to actually connect with another player, a Slytherin hitting a Gryffindor Beater, and Chaser turned Seeker Natalie McDonald getting the Snitch, for a 200-90 Gryffindor victory. Krepko made no appearance, so Harry figured that at least Draco had not flat out said no. Harry gave Keenan a smug smile, he was now five galleons richer.

There were no after game theatrics, though Bletchley kept to his word and there was no handshake ritual afterward. He did make a point of getting eye contact with Harry in the stands, and our boy gave him a discreet thumbs up, signaling that the points would be awarded as promised. Thankfully McG didn't see this, she frowned upon private points deals such as this, though the Gryffindor/Slytherin mix of it would surely please her.

As usual, the faculty were the last to return to the main castle. Harry checked his watch, it read 4:05 as he and Hermione walked through the front door. He looked upon the wall where the House Cup points were tallied, and saw that first place Ravenclaw was up 30 points on Gryffindor, who was up 40 points on Hufflepuff, up a mere 10 points on Slytherin. This was after the game too, and Harry sighed at what he had to do.

"100 points to Slytherin for Mitchell Bletchley's sense of fair play." He did not say this very loudly, even a whisper would have been enough, as Slytherin went from worst to first in an eye blink. He made sure that no one else could see it but Hermione, who just shook her head in amusement.

"And to think that you were hoping to take points AWAY from Slytherin when you got this job."

"The irony is not lost on me darling."

They walked over to the Great Hall, only to find that McG had found Draco there, and was giving him a mild dressing down for being the building when he had no right to be, as the general public did not have castle privileges. She was not letting him get a word in edgewise, so Harry had to be the one to cut her short.

"Um, Minerva? I invited him here, so it's technically not trespassing."

McGonagall was not a young woman, and had led a very stressful life in the last couple of decades, and Harry was worried that this might be the straw that broke the heart attack's back for a second there, but she recovered.

"As you wish Harry."

She did not seem interested in leaving however, and with a mental sigh of frustration, Harry gave her a nudge.

"If you'll excuse us ma'am, Draco and I need a moment."

She took the hint and went out the door……and stopped right next to Hermione, who was standing just out of earshot. Harry made sure that there were no eavesdroppers, and began:

"Thanks for coming." Without a trace of irony.

"You piqued my curiosity." Not quite so with this reply, though it was not unfriendly.

"That was the idea. You and I have a beyond nasty history with each other, and this is probably the longest we've stood next to each other without wands being pointed, so I'll get right to the point: Join us. Forsake your idiot father and his hapless henchmen, and join us. Switch sides and be on the winning side, as you were THIS close to doing last time. You'll have a place at the table, and I have no doubt that you have skills and experiences that would prove to be very valuable to our organization. This offer expires the moment I throw up the Quaffle for next week's game. Think about it."

Without waiting for a reply, knowing that one wouldn't be imminent anyway, Harry left the room as quickly as his dignity would allow. He left behind a dumbstruck Draco Malfoy, which was the whole point of the exercise.

Harry walked right past Hermione and McG without stopping, and forced Hermione to catch up to him, while McG stayed behind to make sure that Draco left the castle in a timely manner. They walked to their destination in silence, but once they were in Hermione's office:

"Well?"

"I told you that I wasn't going to wait for a reply. I want him to think about it, to ponder. Even if he says no, the seed will be planted. It might grow, it might fester."

"But either way it costs us nothing."

"Yes ma'am."

"Bill and the others will not look upon this offer with kindness." Only Harry and Hermione, and McG, sort of, knew about it.

"That's why it's going to work, because it's coming from me and me alone. It keeps the Malfoys thinking that I'm in charge and Bill's my front man, and if Draco takes the deal, one of his conditions will be that no Weasley ever gets to tell him anything more than what time it is or whether it's raining out."

Hermione let out a giggle after hearing that last bit.

"Are you going to tell them about it before you get the reply?"

"I don't know, I'm certainly not going to announce it at the Order meeting tomorrow."

"What will McGonagall say though? She might force your hand, and think that tomorrow is the best time to do it, in front of our entire group."

"Then she'll find herself even more on the outside than she already is, it's time she realized that she's not Dumbledore."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Dumbledore was Headmaster of Hogwarts, all his other titles, AND the most powerful Wizard in the realm, if not the world. McGonagall is just Headmistress of Hogwarts, a school principal." He was only saying this much because there were no portraits in Hermione's office, portraits that were prone to tattling if the spirit moved them. There weren't any in Harry's office either, and both of those situations were by design.

"She would never want all of Dumbledore's responsibilities, and I think Hogwarts is the better for it, we have someone with their eye firmly on the school." Hermione liked that fact a lot, plus the notion that as McG's favorite pupil, it had given her more of an 'in' to get her current position.

"Yet as soon as she found out about The Order, she wanted in. The only reason she hasn't tried for more of a role is that we stacked the initial intake." With Weasleys and friends, even with the recent fissures Harry felt certain that he would win a vote against her.

"What if Arthur and Molly flip over? Can we move forward with a divided Order?"

"Keenan and Slughorn will flip back to us if we really need them to. Besides, Bill is still the titular Head, and there's no way his parents would vote to remove him, it would expose them as being the worst kinds of hypocrites." Personally, Harry thought that Bill was maneuvering his parents into trying exactly that, to win the game of brinksmanship he had been playing against them since The Order had restarted.

"I wonder at all this political plotting and planning we're doing, and within our own group no less." It was vaguely troubling to her, the more so because she was largely kept out of it, though with her acquiescence.

"It's human nature, well, human nature from growing up in a democracy, it's made us inveterate vote counters."

"And what little book did you read that in?" She was still amazed that Harry had taken to reading like he had, and again she silently railed against Ron and the bad influence he had obviously been on her boyfriend/lover for so many years.

"I'm not telling, but its on one of the shelves in our bedroom if you want to start hunting for it." He knew that she would head to the shelves as soon as she got home.

"Speaking of that, there is a purchase I would like you to consider making, if we can swing certain parts of it."

"Eh?"

"I think we should get a computer, and see if we can modify the house enough so that we can get the internet."

Hermione had long wanted to try the internet, but her parents were technophobes and had no interest in computers or anything of the like. During their last visit with her they had pointed out that Harry's car experience seemed to be going swimmingly, and that surely he would be interested in further technology explorations.

"Sure, if you want to. Am I going computer shopping tomorrow?" He didn't see the harm.

Hermione was a bit nonplussed that he agreed so quickly, but rallied:

"Well we can go tomorrow together, I'm all caught up on grading papers and lesson plans, or at least I will be after tonight."

That told Harry that it would be a quiet evening, not that he minded.

"Here or at home?"

"Home I think, everyone will be out and about, we'll have the place to ourselves, with Teddy." Her eyebrows went up a bit, implying that Teddy's early bedtime would leave plenty of Harry/Hermione time.

A message that The Boy Who Lived grasped instantly.

"Home it is."

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy was enjoying a quiet dinner in his preferred corner of The Leaky Cauldron. He ate there so much, and at such a regular time, that Tom the barman had that table permanently reserved for the Malfoy heir. It was a secluded corner, where no one would bother him, yet he could see most of the pub's other customers. Occasionally he brought Pansy with him, but he was losing his taste for that more and more with each passing week.

What to do about Potter though? Did he take that deal on the table?

It was a conundrum for sure, and one that he could not really seek counsel for. Who could he even tell about it, without putting himself at risk? His father would want to know, so that some sort of advantage could be extracted from it. Was there a vulnerability from Potter perhaps? His mother was too much of a wildcard after the murder of her sister, as far as Draco was concerned. He thought if anyone was going to turn on his father first, it would be Narcissa, who was showing more and more signs of erratic behavior. Not Bella style erratic, but it was getting noticeable. Pansy as an advisor didn't even bear pondering for more than a few seconds before it got him to chuckling.

So Draco ate his chicken, drank his lager, and pondered. He pondered what was best for him personally, always the first rule of his life. He pondered what the fallout would be if he switched sides in all this. But mostly he pondered what the hell Potter was thinking in making the offer in the first place.

He came to no decisions that night, nor did he expect to. But the clock was ticking, and six days was not a whole lot of time to make a life changing decision.

Sunday, October 12, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:00 pm

The Order meeting had just broken up, and the Hogwarts teachers were in the process of flooing back for dinner. It was a later meeting these next two weeks, due to no Puddlmere game for Harry, Oliver, and Katie, and the schedule seemed to suit everyone. Discussions were had, plans were made, and it was pretty much agreed that it was only going to take one more issue of The True Voice before The Order started it's own propaganda campaign against the Malfoys, and if necessary, The Ministry.

Everyone else was staying for dinner, there was even a thaw with Molly and Arthur, though it was more along the lines of Harry being too polite to ask them to leave rather than desiring their company. No mention was made of the top of the line computer that was now occupied Hermione's desk in the master bedroom, the last thing they wanted was Arthur begging to play with it. Number 12 Grimmauld Place did not have a landline phone installed of course, but a cell call to the phone company would be placed tomorrow afternoon once Harry got home.

Percy had sent an owl to his parents on Tuesday, but the owl did not arrive until Thursday afternoon, to WWW. George had been bored, with inventor's block to boot, so he scooted over to the post office and found out that two days was not remotely unreasonable for the Switzerland/England owl run, so that baseline was pretty well established. Penelope would report at the meeting that she had received one as well, and was planning a trip to Zurich as soon as she could get some time off.

The owl message to WWW was a single sheet of parchment that read like there had been a wand at Percy's head, forcing him to do it. It recounted the rest of his train journey, uneventful, and his initial impressions of Zurich, which were quite favorable as it turned out. He had met Bill's friend Mareke, his new employer, and was guardedly optimistic about his future with the firm and the job that he would be doing. He had used Harry's money wisely, he promised, and had already leased a tiny flat within a five minute walk of his new job.

Nothing was said about missing his family.

No mention of the Malfoy offer had been made during the meeting, and Harry was wrestling with how wide to make the circle of whom he told now. Should it be to the group as a whole? Or just Bill and Fleur? McG had made no mention of it, though she had been giving him the eye for most of the meeting, giving Harry relief on one score. But whom to tell?

He spent the entire meal debating with himself, stopping only to feed Teddy and make sure that his godson was sufficiently entertained. He was, being the only child in a group this large was bound to make Teddy the center of attention, and he never lacked anyone to talk to.

A bit later, when it was time to put Teddy to bed, Harry made his decision:

"Fleur, give me a hand will you?" It would look less obvious this way, or so Harry hoped.

"Of course Harry." She assumed that something was up, as she was no better at doing this kind of thing than anyone else, though she did enjoy Harry's company for itself.

The two of them walked upstairs, while levitating Teddy between them. Harry and Neville had done it one night, and it was now the little tyke's preferred method of transportation. Teddy still hadn't really made a serious grab for anyone's wand yet, but they all knew it was coming sooner or later, as he saw more and more magic being done in front of him.

After 10 minutes of wrangling Teddy into his pajamas, and a brief story, the little guy was sound asleep. Harry busied himself with putting Teddy's toys away, while Fleur leaned up against the dresser.

"So what is going on Harry?" She was hoping for a juicy story or two, and was pleased that he liked and trusted her enough to confide in her whatever was coming.

"Yesterday after the game, I offered Draco Malfoy a spot in The Order." With Fleur he would not dance around things.

Fleur just stared at him for a minute, trying to decipher whether or not he was taking the piss.

"You are not joking."

"Nope."

"Something tells me that if he had said yes, you would have mentioned it before now."

"Very true."

"But he did not say no either, did he?"

"No he didn't, I left before he could say a word. I gave him until this coming Saturday to let me know." Harry, in his own mind, felt that that little detail was the masterstroke of his plan, since it gave Draco some pause.

"Who else knows about this?" She assumed Hermione, but was curious about anyone else.

"I doubt he has the inclination to tell anyone, so just you, me, and Hermione know right now. Obviously that little group will expand to include Bill once you get home."

"Was the offer a serious one?"

"Of course." He was a bit surprised by that question.

"Then, if I may quote what I think my husband will say: What the hell possessed you to do it?" She deepened her voice as much as she could, in imitation of Bill, and it wasn't a half bad impression. They both grinned.

"All they've been doing is with me is trying to play at psychological warfare, it's time they had a taste of it."

"What if he says yes though?"

"Then we'll be dealing Lucius a shot to the minerals won't we? His own son forsaking him, all the while his wife visits with us once a week on the sly? We make it public and he'd never recover, his supporters will bleed away like a red sock in bleach."

Fleur was momentarily confused by the bleach reference, but got back to the topic at hand quickly enough.

"When did you decide to do this?"

"Saturday morning before the game. I had a meeting with the two Captains, and the Slytherin guy was so reasonable it just kind of popped into my head to do it." If this worked, in any way, he was going to make sure that Bletchley got some more points.

"What did Hermione say?"

"Besides that Draco would never do it?"

"That's enough for me, but what else?" She doubted that Hermione had tried to talk him out of it though, she was fully aware that Hermione was trying overly hard to be deferential to Harry.

"Nothing besides that actually, she just thought that there was no harm in giving it a try."

"It might make you look desperate, reaching out your hand in alliance to your biggest rival."

"Draco and I aren't rivals, the only thing he's ever really beaten me at was Potions, and that was because of Snape's help." Not entirely true, Draco's NEWT's had beaten Harry's across the board, except for in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"What if he puts this in the next issue of The True Voice? I'm sure that they could use your offer to accuse you of new things."

"I hope he does put it in there, it'll give me an excuse to go on offense."

"Bill will want to know why you didn't talk to him about it first. I'm sure he would have said yes, go do it. But he will ask."

"Like I said, it was spur of the moment. Plus, if Draco had gotten a word in edgewise, he would have asked if Bill had put me up to it, and I wanted to be able to say no with a straight face."

Fleur thought about this for a moment, and shrugged.

"Well I have to agree that the risk is worth the reward here. Tell me honestly, what do you think he will say?"

"He'll say no, that's what I think will happen. But I also think that he'll keep the offer to himself, and that my friend, is our opportunity."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we'll ask Narcissa tomorrow whether or not he said anything about it. Then once he turns us down, he only has to make one more outrageous move against us and we tell Lucius about the offer…….and he'll know that his scion didn't inform him about it, even if Draco says I'm lying, Lucius won't think me capable of something like that. That will create fissures in their organization, and buy us some time."

Fleur was now grinning at the deviousness of Harry's strategy.

"Not bad Harry my friend, not bad."

"Just tell it to Bill in those terms, and stress that I wasn't keeping anything from him, there just was not any time to tell him." Bill, with no siblings at the game, had not attended it, preferring to have a Saturday alone with his wife instead.

"I am sure that he will be fine with it." She said in a hopeful tone of voice.

If Bill wasn't fine with it, Harry heard nothing that night or the next afternoon. Narcissa came through his office for her weekly Teddy time on Monday afternoon, but Bill didn't come with her. Instead, Oliver and Katie were the designated chaperones, which was becoming the usual thing, as all three had their afternoons largely free.

Harry spiked Mrs. Malfoy's lemonade as he planned to, but only asked vague questions, not wanting her to get suspicious.

"So did Draco say anything about me after the game Saturday?"

"No, why would he?"

"Well my House did beats his and yours." Harry was not surprised, per se, but he had thought that if his enemy was going to confide in anyone about the offer, it would be his mother.

"Isn't that always the case lately? We haven't beaten Gryffindor since the year before you and Draco started at Hogwarts." Inasmuch as Narcissa cared about the Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry, she only paid attention to it via Quidditch.

A pleasant memory for Harry and Katie, who had never lost to Slytherin in their years playing together, Katie not having played in her first year at school of course.

Not so for Oliver, who would forever have a 50/50 record against Slytherin, losing three before Harry and Katie, and winning the three afterward. But he kept any bitterness to himself.

But Harry had gotten what he wanted, the only thing now, was whether Draco had told his father about it. Harry was sorely tempted to out Draco to Narcissa, so to speak, and then Obliviate her afterward. But he was not so confident in his Obliviation skills against what he assumed must be a powerful, given that she was Black, though lazy, Witch. This would have to wait for Bill, so a delay of at least a week. He was so distracted by this mental debate that he forgot to ask any questions of Narcissa, and was only reminded of this after she left, and Katie bringing it up.

"Where were you today Harry? You seemed to be elsewhere." She was a bit worried, she hadn't seem him go away like that since the days of Sirius Black, before he found out about the man being his godfather.

"Just thinking about time going by, and stuff like that. Nothing important." He knew that they would understand, eventually.

Bill and Harry had their meeting on Wednesday, and the older man turned out to be fine with the whole thing, agreeing with Hermione that nothing was likely to come of it anyway, aside from some potentially choice blackmailing material. They had a fun lunch role playing Draco trying to explain his silence about the offer to his parents, with Fleur playing the role of the darling Narcissa. Seeing Bill's sense of humor more and more made Harry wonder how Bill, Fred, George, and Charlie had managed it, growing up with Molly and Arthur, who were wonderfully nice people, seemingly without comedic bones in their bodies. It was a puzzle.

Friday, October 17, 1999

6:15 pm

WWW

Anson Parkinson had just arrived, to give his weekly report on the results of his Listeners in Malfoy Manor, which had thus far remained undiscovered, and his general report on his own activities. It was, by now, so routine that Harry almost didn't come this time. He was supposed to be having dinner with, and picking the brain of, one of the regular referees of League games, given that Harry was due to ref the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw tilt the next day. Only when it got postponed to Saturday breakfast at the last minute did Harry show for Parkinson, and it was a good thing that he did.

After the obligatory Imperious induced commentary, Parkinson got to what he wanted to say:

"I would like to talk to you about something."

'You' was Harry, Bill, George, and Fleur, all of whom were looking at their watches, their dinner reservation was at 7:00 pm. Bill responded:

"We're listening."

"My sister and I have been talking about things, Malfoy things."

"And?" Bill was sensing some traitorous feelings here.

"We would like to come to some sort of voluntary agreement with you, non-Imperious based."

Elvis hadn't left the building, but he was staring at the door right now. George actually started chuckling before he figured out that Anson wasn't smiling.

"Oh really? What makes you want to do that?"

"We feel that the Malfoys aren't as likely to prevail as you are, and we would rather sit this one out."

"Then sit it out."

"We all know that that's not possible. My parents would never let us, nor would the Malfoys. In order for the two of us to live in peace, they need to go down." He and Pansy had come to this decision the previous night, and had somewhat rehearsed this.

"Do you believe in the rightness of the cause?" Bill asked this, he was genuinely curious about the opportunity here.

"Of the Malfoy cause? Yes, to a point. I'm not willing to risk my life for it though, not this time."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you thought your side had a chance at winning."

"Probably not, but they don't, so that's a moot point isn't it?"

"What are you offering?" Bill thought he knew, but wanted it said flat out.

"Full cooperation from an intelligence standpoint, but we will not fight any battles unless absolutely necessary."

"We being you and Pansy."

"Yes."

"How is this different than the arrangement we have with you now? Other than adding Pansy to the deal."

"You know you get better results if I'm aiding you willingly, and she can add something to it as well. Their going to announce her engagement to Draco any day now, and I want that wedding prevented…….well, so does she. That's part of what you're going to give us in return for our help, that wedding stopped."

Harry was actually smiling at the idea of barging in on a wedding right when the 'does anyone here object to this union' part of the ceremony happened. He instantly knew that this would be the daydream that kept on giving.

"Excuse us for a moment Parkinson, while we chat about this." Harry threw up a Silencing Bubble, so that they didn't have to leave their erstwhile spy alone in the shop.

"So what do you guys think?"

George had an opinion right away.

"I don't see what real use they could be for us, I mean they were following you around Harry, not exactly indicative of value."

"Gee thanks."

"You know what I mean. But that said, I don't see the harm either, as long as they pass the test with the drugs and sign our parchments."

That was Harry's thinking precisely, he looked at Fleur next.

"Fleur?"

"I am with brother George, I don't see the harm. Any information that they can give us will be valuable, and he does not appear to be asking for much in exchange."

"Good point, I'm sure that there has to be something else that he wants. Bill?"

"Same for me, I'll believe they're sincere when they pass our tests, but if they do, I don't see any downside to taking his deal." He nodded at Harry to dissolve the Silencing Bubble, and once gone:

"Tell me Parkinson, what made you come to us like this? Was there a straw that broke the camel's back?"

"Yes, and I've already told you: My sister being forced to marry that slick haired incompetent. I've already been forced to marry someone from that hapless family, I don't want her to have to do the same." He had recounted his brief marriage during his initial Veritaserum session back when.

Harry couldn't let that one pass, much as he sympathized.

"Well here's the thing Anson, from everything I've seen over the years, Pansy has been dying to marry Draco and become a Malfoy. What changed?" She had certainly worshipped his every move at school, though Harry was now wracking his brain trying to remember if she had done so in their last year at Hogwarts.

"The last war changed it Potter, you were there, remember? He took the coward's way out when the going got tough, he didn't believe enough. But he was willing to sacrifice everyone else though wasn't he? Just like he and daddy Lucius are doing now. Any battle with you people or The Ministry that comes about, they won't be anywhere near the front of it, they'll just hang back, managing it. Cowards."

"Well of course that's our view, but it does sound rather strange coming from you."

"That's the problem with your side of the fence Potter, you refuse to believe that people can change and evolve as they get older. You pigeonhole people like that at your peril."

"Point taken. Does your sister know that you're here right this minute, making us this offer?"

"She knows that it's going down this weekend, I wasn't allowed to tip off that I come in here every Friday night, if you'll recall."

"We do recall, thank you. Where is she now?"

"At home I suppose, or out with her friends."

Bill and Harry conferred for a few seconds, and Bill addressed Parkinson.

"Get her here tomorrow at 5:00 pm, along with yourself. There will be things that you need to sign, and we'll get all of this down on paper. If you live up to your end of the bargain that we strike, there will be hands off toward you and your sister after this is all over, assuming that we win. We'll also pretend that you didn't help us when that happens, if that's what you want."

"Good, I think we're all making the right move here."

"So you say. What about your parents, any hopes there?"

"None whatsoever, otherwise they wouldn't be selling their children to the Malfoys as spouse material."

"I can see why you wouldn't like that. Anything else?" Bill had other things he wanted to ask, but thought to wait until Pansy got there to do it.

"No, I'm done here."

He was waved out of the shop, and departed to take up his position to 'spy' on them. The four Order folk looked at each other for a brief moment, and as one seemed to shrug. They did the safe thing and took the floo into London, and then on to dinner.

Later on, as they got ready for bed, Harry gave Hermione her update on the Parkinson matter.

"So there you have it, a couple of defections for us to consider."

"Do we really want them though?"

"Why not? Anything that harms the Malfoys helps us doesn't it?" That was how Harry rationalized it to himself.

"But Pansy Parkinson? She's hated us for years." Hermione was trying to think of a single positive memory that she had of the Slytherin girl, and couldn't think of any.

Harry waved that off.

"She's hated us because she was told to hate us, by Draco and her sodding parents. I mean it's not like she ever had a conversation with any of us, or tried to get to know us. People can change, as that git Anson told us, I think we should give them a shot."

"If you say so."

"Look, you don't have to have anything to do with them if you don't want to, it's totally up to you. No one is going to force them on you." He now remembered that Pansy had thrown around the word 'mudblood' more than a few times over the years.

"I think it would be best if I wasn't there tomorrow, yes."

Harry couldn't agree more, and then chided himself for thinking this, for unconsciously discriminating against his muggleborn girlfriend. Her being there would not help with the Parkinsons, sure……..but maybe it was time that they grew up a little, if they wanted to be dealt out of the current conflict. He decided to sleep on it, and see what he thought in the morning. No need to make a hasty decision, that was what had cost him so dearly in the past.

Saturday, October 18, 1999

Hogwarts, Office of the Flying Instructor

1:00 pm

The breakfast meeting with Othello Corner-Briggs, his referee contact, had gone very well. Corner-Briggs had brought a list of do's and don'ts to their breakfast at The Leaky Cauldron, and they went over the list in detail over the ensuing hour. It was, for Harry, an interesting look at his profession from another angle. For Corner-Briggs, a chance to be seen in public with The Boy Who Lived, and a photographer from The Daily Prophet had been duly alerted, and was there to take photos for the following day's edition. Harry, without being told explicitly, had figured on something like this happening, and took it as part of the deal, along with the breakfast check.

He was in his office, talking with Keenan about the football match that they were going to attend the next day, when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in!" The door wasn't locked, but it was closed. Harry was wondering if it was Draco, though he wasn't sure that Malfoy would be allowed in the building.

It was not Draco, it was Mitchell Bletchley, the Slytherin Quidditch Captain.

"Hey Mitchell, what's going on?"

"I was asked to give you this, by one of my Housemates." He had a folded up piece of paper in his hand.

"Who?"

"I'm sorry, but I made a promise, and I owed a favor. I was told that this is a response to a request that you made last week, that's all they said." He left out that he had read the note, which was not even in an envelope. Any curious person would have read it too.

Harry was curious too, but not so curious that he didn't take out his pocketed wand and scan the proffered piece of paper for Charms, portkeys, or anything else that was heinous. He found nothing though, and looked at Keenan with his eyebrows raised. The other man shrugged, there was nothing else to do but accept the paper.

"Okay, thanks Mitchell. Did you need to wait for a reply."

"No I wasn't Mr. Potter." That was part of the deal all Quidditch players had with Harry, it was Mr. Potter in front of the other faculty. He laid the note on the desk, and beat a somewhat hasty retreat.

Harry picked up the paper and opened it. It had just two words on it.

_Sod off_

"Well, well. I guess it's on now isn't it?"

End Chapter


	27. Crossing Prep

Saturday, October 18, 1999, continued

Hogwarts, Office of the Flying Instructor

1:05 pm

"Well, well. I guess it's on now isn't it?" Harry leaned back in his chair with half a smile on his face, waiting for the suitably perplexed Keenan to ask him what the hell was going on. He passed his friend and colleague the note.

"What's on? Sod off? Who's this from?"

"A week ago today, I offered Draco Malfoy a spot in The Order, this is his reply." He gave Keenan the two minute primer on what he had been thinking.

"Not bad Harry, and it took him the entire week to decide too." He sounded intrigued.

That had occurred to Harry as well, while 12 was not accessible by owl, a message could always be gotten to him via WWW.

"I know, I can't wait to start playing with that too."

"Were you going to tell the rest of us when it was decided? Or were you and Bill going to run Draco yourselves?" He didn't sound mad, just curious still.

"Nah, I was going to say something once he made his choice. But if you're any indication, the rest of them will take it pretty well." He didn't think that Keenan would be the norm though, the man was inherently unflappable, one reason he and Harry were becoming good friends away from The Order and Hogwarts.

"I'm trying to picture that kid sitting at a table with us and smiling, it's hard to fathom." Needless to say, Draco had not taken Muggle Studies, Keenan's subject, but the teacher was still very familiar with him.

"I know, that's one reason I wanted to try it. You should have seen the look on his face when I sprung it on him." He started cackling, and Giles joined him. They soon got up and walked out to the Pitch, back to talking about the Chelsea/Arsenal football game that they, Oliver, and Katie would be attending the next day. Hermione was grading papers, and was only even attending the game because Harry was participating in it, even in a totally neutral way.

"Nervous? Your first game being referee."

"Sure, it would be unnatural if I wasn't. But I talked to the Captains before lunch and threatened the life out of them if they made me look bad. You should have seen their faces too." Harry smiled in remembrance.

"The fear of The Chosen One?"

"It's about time I got some use out of it." The Daily Prophet had been leaving Harry alone as of late, aside from Quidditch box scores, but that nickname was still their preferred moniker for him. Harry read it most days, but as a matter of principle wouldn't actually pay for a copy of it.

The game itself was relatively uneventful, Harry's threats had worked on the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Captains, especially given that he had not been smiling when he threatened them. So our boy called a total of two fouls, or two more than the Gryffindor/Slytherin tilt of a week ago. The crowd was the more civilized of the two, as there was not the history of hatred between these two particular Houses that there was between the others. Oh the onlookers cared a great deal, but few thought that it would be a blight on their honor if their House was to lose.

So it was fitting that the final score was a tie. Ravenclaw Seeker Orla Quirke nabbed the Snitch just as Hufflepuff Chaser Ryan Dowdell scored with the Quaffle, making the final score 230-230. Quirke getting the Snitch only mattered in terns of breaking a tie in the standings, not the game, but she was still saluted as the game's outstanding player, as the Snitch catcher usually was. Both sides were pleased with their efforts, if not the outcome, and the Captains were both openly talking about a rematch if they were to wind up tied at the end of the Quidditch season in June. The next games were not scheduled until the end of March, and hardcore practices were now on hold as well, there being little point.

Harry left Hogwarts feeling very relaxed, he had forgotten that there was further drama coming before dinner. The Parkinsons were coming by the shop to make their deal. The remembering of it took some of the sun out of his mood, politics were always interfering.

Forward to 5:00 pm

WWW

The Parkinson siblings presented themselves right on the stroke of 5:00, as per Anson's instructions. Diagon Alley at that time of day, after a Hogwarts Quidditch game, was pretty dead, so they just walked right in, no Glamours or Disillusionments. Greeting them were the four that made the deal with Anson the night before, plus Luna, who always unsettled Pansy for some reason. Precisely why Harry had thought to bring her, he wanted to keep at least one of his perhaps former foes off guard. Bill ushered their guests into the back of the shop, while George locked up, 5:00 pm was closing time on Saturday.

Bill, very pointedly, scanned them for anything suspicious, and didn't find anything. He let them keep their wands though, figuring that the five Order people would be more than a match here.

"So, here we are. Pansy, you're aware that your brother made a deal with us last night?"

Pansy looked around the room, seeing one small blonde nutcase, three scarred nutcases, two of them with red hair, one half Veela, and her own brother, and very badly wanted to get out of there. But she took a deep breath and settled herself.

"I am."

"That deal included your participation."

"I know, I knew about it before you did." They had talked about it every night for a week, though they had agreed from the start that something had to be done.

"If I put you under Veritserum right now, and asked if you wanted to kill us, what would you say?"

"You're going to find out, aren't you?"

"I surely am, and I note your lack of denial. Pansy, I want to hear, in your own words, why you're doing this, and why we should go along with it."

Anson had told her to be ready for something along these lines, and he was proven correct.

"You want to do this because it's two fewer people to fight when the time comes. You want this because even if we help a little bit, it's still better than nothing. I want this because you're going to prevent my marriage to Draco Malfoy, and when you win, as I think you will, you'll remember us when the spoils are divided. And no, I don't want to kill any of you right now. I've had hundreds of chances since July, and did not take a one of them."

"Fair point, though your brother tells us that's because they threatened your parents. But never mind. The first parchment that you need to sign is the No Violence agreement. You cannot fire an offensive spell or curse at anyone on that list, nor can any of them do the same to you. We have not tested this, but I am willing to bet that if you're put under Imperious and fire at one of us, the parchment will still harm you. How will it harm you? Think Marietta Edgecombe, times ten."

Pansy remembered all too well what had happened to the now graduated Ravenclaw girl. Anson did as well, as his sister had told him all about it back in the day, though back then it was couched as how horrible Gryffindors were to other Houses. So they both signed without any complaint, seeing the double edged part of it.

"Are you noting the names on it? The names that you cannot harm in any way."

"I see." Pansy.

"So do I." Anson.

"Excellent. Now, here's another parchment that I made up while the Quidditch game was going on this afternoon. It says that you can't talk about that particular parchment, or it's list of names, to anyone. And by 'talk', I mean communicate in any way. So don't get any ideas about writing stuff down." He passed over the parchment, and they both signed without any hesitation.

"You're both doing great, this will turn out to be very easy I'm betting. Now is the Veritaserum quiz, and regrettably, you need to be separated. Pansy, you'll go first, then Anson. You answer our questions correctly, and to our collective satisfactions, and you'll get the third parchment, the final one. That puts you into The Order of the Phoenix, though your memberships are of an auxiliary nature of course, so very few meetings in your future. I remember our deal, you fight no battles unless absolutely necessary. We'll stick to our end." The small caveat was that neither Bill nor Harry were willing to sign any parchments promising to adhere to the deal.

Pansy, as Bill wanted, went first. She stared pointedly at Harry the entire time during her questioning, but answered every question without incident. She was not under any orders or influence from Lucius, Draco, or anyone else in making this deal. The only person she had even talked about it with was her brother, her limited circle of friends was unaware, and only two of her girlfriends were even aware of who was involved with The True Voice organization, because they were involved also. Pansy had never killed anyone, had used Cruiciatus four times in her life, and did not love Draco Malfoy, though she once had. Despite Harry knowing her best, Bill was the one to question her. It took 15 minutes.

Likewise Bill was the one doing the interrogation of Anson Parkinson, a much shorter affair than his sister's, given that they had had a session already. Anson admitted, under drugs, that this was all his idea and no one else's, and that nobody besides he and Pansy were privy to this deal, on their side of the fence that is. This one took five minutes, if that, and people were still looking at their watches afterward. The secrecy parchments were signed, and Bill was about to send everyone on their way, when Harry stopped him.

"I'd like a moment with Pansy if you don't mind. Just for a minute."

Anson looked perplexed, while his sister just shrugged. There were no worries for her, she had made sure that Harry had signed the violence parchment. The two of them walked back to the front of the shop as everyone else was a little confused.

"What do you want Potter?" No hint of hostility in her voice.

"A couple of things. First, everything that we're saying is Order business and covered by the parchment, understand?"

"I understand. Now what?" She was getting curious now.

"How much did you talk to Draco this week?"

"We don't really talk that much, I saw him a couple of times, had dinner with his family twice. Why?"

"Did he talk about me at all?"

"No, why? What's going on?"

"I offered him a spot in our organization last week, giving him a week to think about it, and he took the entire week. Now think again, did he perhaps hint at something?"

Pansy was flabbergasted, and for a moment couldn't find her voice.

"You want him in here with you?" Her and her brother she could believe, but not Draco.

"Not for himself, but what it would do to his father." A slight lie, he thought Draco would be far more useful in practice than either Pansy or her brother.

Now that was a ploy that Pansy could appreciate, and Harry was 'rewarded' with the first genuine smile that Pansy had ever given him.

"Nice, very nice. Draco turning on him would kill Lucius. I'm guessing that Draco said no though."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you wouldn't be so interested in what he told me……and you probably wouldn't have been so eager to take us if he had."

Harry had always thought Pansy rather dim, and now wondered if that was just anti-Slytherin prejudice rearing it's ugly head. He needed to reevaluate things perhaps.

"Correct on the first, not correct on the second, we'll take any reliable help that we can get." He was stretching his own definition of the word reliable here, but he was not really in the mood to insult Pansy to her face right now.

"If you say so."

"I do. Second, why were you staring at me during your Veritaserum conversation?" It had been quite a stare too.

"That's not your concern."

"Oh but I beg to differ, what's going on?"

"How's life with Granger? Make any wedding plans yet?" She made a point to keep her tone of voice even.

Harry was caught off guard for a moment. Where was this going? He still answered though, hoping that an honest one would let him know the angle here.

"The answer to the second is no, but I'll be happy to send you an invitation when the time comes. The answer to the first comes after you say the word 'Hermione' without grimacing, and sounding halfway sincere."

Pansy took a deep breath, and gave as sweet a smile as she was capable of.

"Hermione Jane Granger."

She sounded about ¾ sincere, and Harry was actually a bit impressed that she had gotten Hermione's middle name right.

"That's a big step for you, I'm so proud that I was able to help. Life with Hermione is wonderful, thanks for asking." He gave her a big smile, and just barely managed to make it a non-mocking one.

"Why wasn't she here tonight?"

"Because too many cooks spoil the broth." No way was he giving this woman a straight answer to that kind of query.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means whatever I want it to mean. Now, I answered your query, answer mine: Why were you staring at me?" For some reason this had come to be important to him.

"Because you're so different from him, from Draco. He never stopped wondering what would have happened if you had shaken his hand on the train ride that first day. If you had picked him over Weasley."

Harry had thought a lot about that decision too over the years, never more often than the 14 months when he couldn't sleep. He had lain in bed, analyzing it from every angle, the single decision that had altered his life the most. No other choice he had made really even came close did it?

"I owe my life to that decision Pansy. If Voldemort had gotten his form back, he would have killed me without thinking twice, because of that prophecy. If I was true green Slytherin I would have been worth a lot to him as an ally sure, but he would have wanted to eliminate the threat, taking no chances. I don't know how Draco's life would have changed, but mine would have been over a few years ago."

"You might have prevented him from becoming reborn in the first place, did you ever think of that? Lucius and his minions might have gravitated toward you, instead of the memory of Voldemort."

Harry had to give her credit, in a day and age where Molly and Arthur, or the Malfoy men for that matter, couldn't say Voldemort without flinching or hesitating, Pansy did so without either tic.

"The problem is, I don't want that kind of power. I never have. Even when I was a kid, the only power I wanted was to have my idiot relatives leave me be, I never dreamed of being PM, or marrying into royalty or the like. I don't want to rule the world Pansy, it's that simple. People like Draco and Lucius, they'll never understand that, because it's the antithesis to them."

Pansy looked at Harry like she'd never seen him before, though to him, her stare at him was just as intense as it had been during her interrogation by Bill.

"Thanks for that……Harry. I appreciate you being straight with me like you did. You didn't have to be."

"You can't betray us, we both know that. No harm in you knowing me a bit better."

"Or at all. I've heard what you're doing with the Slytherin kids at school. For what it's worth, the time you're putting into it will pay off."

"Is that someplace you can help? It won't do much for the 'war', or 'current conflict', or whatever your preferred term is, but it will do a lot for the aftermath, for the future."

"Yeah, I still have a lot of contacts with the older years still there. Let me send a few owls." Pansy thought it worth a try, and might even result in better treatment of Slytherin by the other professors.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that." He reached out his hand, and she took it, holding on to it for a couple of beats longer than necessary before she let it go.

A bit discomfited by that, Harry walked back to the rear of the shop. Once there he motioned for Anson that his sister was waiting for him, and the older man took his leave. George walked over to make sure that the Parkinsons left, and upon seeing that they had:

"So what was that all about Harry? You and Pansy and your little confab?"

Harry took a deep breath, and proceeded to give his Draco Malfoy offer spiel. He was now seriously regretting doing it piecemeal like he had, but there was only one more telling to go, at the Order meeting the next day. He ended with:

"I wanted to see if he had let anything slip to her, she's known him a long time, she could see things that others couldn't……in theory. I didn't know that he doesn't confide in her. Not that he confides in anyone probably." Not that Harry could blame him.

Bill and Fleur were in the know, but the news had hit George and Luna like a ton of bricks, Luna even started coughing a bit at one point. She responded before George did.

"I think our older members will have some negative things to say about your ploy Harry, though I do not of course. But they will want to have been consulted before such a drastic step." Presumably she meant the Hogwarts people and the Weasley parents.

"Well it's too late for any of that, and I don't answer to any of them. At all." He barely answered to Bill, and that was it for him as far as The Order was concerned.

George was nodding along with him.

"True, and I'm sure that they understand that in theory Harry, but there will still be static."

"They'll have to learn to live with their disappointment. And it will only be McGonagall, Flitwick, Molly, and Arthur. Hardly something approaching a quorum, even if I was willing to be censured by them." And he was not, a not so small part of him was burning a little bit for a confrontation with McG or Molly.

Harry's resolute tone stifled any further warnings from Luna and George, and the group broke up to their own Saturday night plans. Harry was disappointed to see that Luna and George went their separate ways, he knew that George was not seeing anyone, and thought that perhaps Luna might have a chance. Luna still avoided the subject whenever pressed even a little bit.

Meanwhile, once they were home, and Anson checked his flat for anything of the surveillance persuasion:

"Well that went pretty well."

"Yeah it did big brother. We're in now, and there's no turning back." She was grinning widely now, Pansy was very happy.

"I hope your plan works."

"Our plan Anson, I never would have come up with my end if you hadn't shown me the way with approaching them."

"Try not to remember that if this blows up in our faces."

"It won't, trust me." She busied herself with cooking dinner, her brother was stereotypically hopeless in the kitchen, while he pondered the night's events.

The Order meeting the next day was, to Harry's great surprise, uneventful. The older members all agreed that Harry's Draco ploy was worth the tiny amount of effort that he put into it, and acknowledged that spur of the moment ideas sometimes needed to acted on. Likewise they liked the addition of the Parkinson siblings, apparently the Parkinson family was more important than Harry or Bill had thought, and the defection of that branch's heirs was seen as a mid-major coup. All in all it was one of their most collegial meetings, even if the elephants in the room that were Gawain Robards and Kingsley Shacklebolt were not touched on at all. That would be next week.

After dinner, Molly, hesitantly, approached Harry in the kitchen.

"Harry, may I have a moment?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?" He knew that this would come eventually, he had studiously avoided her for the last week and change. He didn't look at her though, and continued to make the drinks.

"I want to make sure that you and I are okay. Arthur said that you were very reasonable about things, given the horrible words that I said. I appreciate that Harry, I really do."

She sounded very sincere, but Harry just couldn't resist a shot across the bow.

"So you didn't mean them at the time? Or you just regret saying them out loud?"

"Both, I was just very upset about Percy and the way things were turning out. You'll understand better when you have children of your own."

It was that last sentence that set Harry off , a little bit. The look on his face immediately clued Molly in on that she had taken another wrong turn, and she blanched.

"Oh yes, once I'm older, I'll understand why you attempted to kick me out of the family."

"I didn't mean it like that………"

Harry's interruption was quiet, but no less resolute.

"Yes you bloody did. You style yourself my better because of your age and experience, yet you're far more emotional than I am, and far more prone to mistakes. I put up with it because of everything you've done for me in the past, but that bank account is getting close to overdraft if you don't mind a little heads up."

Molly didn't know what to say, for once. She had had the best of intentions going in, but…….

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make you angry."

"No, you were just trying to make me see where you were coming from. And I do. The fact that I don't like where you're coming from is my problem, and yours. The real problem here though, as I see it, is we've made this too personal. The whole idea of Hermione and I being part of the family in the first place, that's where everything went sideways. Lee Jordan was close to the twins for years, as close to them as I was to Ron, I never heard him referred to as family before. But Hermione and I were the lost ducklings, the muggleborn and The Boy Who Lived, and we needed rescuing. And we did at times, or at least I did, not so much Hermione. What I'm saying is, perhaps the word 'family' was thrown around a bit too cavalierly for comfort. Maybe just being friends should be enough."

Molly was now aghast, and so was a very quiet Arthur, standing just out sight near the doorway. Seeing that his wife needed rescuing again, he stepped forward into the scene.

"You and Hermione were and are part of the Weasley family Harry, never doubt that."

Oh but Harry did doubt that, even if he chose his words differently. Now more than ever, he was thankful that he had broken up with Ginny, to avoid being yoked to these two even more closely than he was.

"Your sons in this house right now, yes, they are as close to me as brothers are. I would trust all four of them with my life, I trust three of them currently to live in the same house with my godson. Your daughter and I shared more heartache than we should have. And you two and I…….well, maybe I'm taking this a little too personally. I can admit that, it's one of my flaws, seeing slights in every potentially critical remark. Talking down to people Molly, that's one of yours."

For once in her life, Molly knew that this was the time to keep quiet. She and Arthur let the silence hang in the air, and Harry was forced to speak.

"But yes, we're okay Molly. And I happen to think that this whole Ginny and Percy mess has been good for the lot of us."

Arthur goggled for a moment, that was the last thing he had expected to hear.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Good in that we all know each other better, we see how I've changed since the war. The two of you don't seem to have changed much at all, which is understandable given where you are in life. We understand each other better is what I'm saying, and that's good." He waved his wand and levitated the drinks in front of him, leaving the two of them to contemplate things.

"Arthur?"

"I think we've heard his last word on the matter Molly, and we now need to leave well enough alone."

"Things will never go back to the way they were, will they?"

"No they won't, but he's right, they've changed because he's changed. It just took the two of us longer to see it than most." Arthur was very generously including himself in that statement, even though he did not really mean it.

"I feel like we've lost him." She sounded as sad as Arthur had heard her since Fred.

"He's right Molly, we never really had him. That young man was never raised correctly, not since James and Lily died. The Dursleys, Sirius, Dumbledore, and us……..we all failed him. No wonder he has nightmares, I'd have them too if I grew up like he did."

"We did what we thought was best for him, all of us did, except for those muggles."

"But we never understood him, that was our problem. We treated him alternately like Ron, who grew up in a warm and loving family, and like Dumbledore's weapon, and neither was right for him. He should have been sent to a therapist the moment he got to Hogwarts, but Dumbledore………"

"Dumbledore is dead, there is no way to remonstrate with him now." Molly had always venerated Dumbledore, even though she agreed that he had let the Dursleys too free a hand with raising Harry.

"What he did to that boy Molly, what he let him go through, I don't know whether to curse or cry whenever I think about it. But he had to harden Harry for the final battle, one that he was not even sure was coming. If I was a spitting man Molly, I would go spit on his grave right now, and every day."

"He was in a unique situation, and you and I did our best."

"It was not good enough, and we're paying for it now. From now on, you and I are going to keep our heads down when it comes to Harry. We're going to let him heal the way he feels is best, and once this Malfoy business is all over with, then we'll work on repairing our relationship with him."

"So you think it can be repaired."

"Of course it can, I'm sure he would have said something by now if it couldn't. Just do not give him any more flack for Ginny or Bill, what's done is done."

"Is it for our daughter though?" Molly didn't think so, though Ginny was temporarily handicapped by the parchments. But those would be gotten rid of eventually, wouldn't they?

"She had a crush on him for years, an unhealthy one that we both thought that she would grow out of. But she didn't, and while I don't think that Harry took advantage of her, I believe that he looked at her and thought 'here's someone I don't have to be someone else around, who will love me for me'. The path of least resistance is a hard one to give up if it's right there in front of you."

"You're saying that he used Ginny?"

"No, of course not, he didn't know what he felt, and to his credit, he broke up with her twice when he got confused. No Molly, I can't find fault with what he did with Ginny, not if I'm being objective. But a parent's job isn't always objective." As you have demonstrated more than once, Arthur thought, but did not say out loud to his wife. And that was the end, for now, of the discussion, as he motioned her to come with him back to the living room. There was no further conversation between either of them and Harry for the remainder of the evening.

Throughout the week that ensued, very little happened of a political nature, at least that outwardly affected The Order or The True Voice. There was no issue of The True Voice, and no one attacked Harry in his rare public appearances in magical Britain. The only seeming change was that Gawain Robards was beginning to make the rounds of Diagon Alley, a sort of walking tour if you will. He made a point to stop in every business in the Alley during the week, including WWW on Thursday afternoon. He made no secret of the tour, even though there was no press announcement about it for the Prophet. It was merely a handshake-fest, and a successful one at that.

Ron and George, knowing of their father's high, and thus precarious, position in The Ministry, were all smiles and hearty greetings when The Minister graced their shop. He inquired about a lot of the products that he had heard so much about, and unlike most of his stops, he made a medium-sized purchase. With his own funds of course, fiscal probity was one of his hallmarks, and selling points.

The no press announcement notwithstanding, The Daily Prophet still made much of it in their editions later in the week. One columnist called it a 'Tour de Force', which had Fleur acidly commenting to her husband that the French language was not there to be sloganized. Another writer wondered if Robards wasn't preparing for the next election already. Robards was finishing, technically speaking, Rufus Scrimgeour's term, and was not due to stand again for another 14 months and change. But it sure looked like a series of campaign events.

Saturday, October 25, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

8:00 pm

This was the first official meeting of the unofficial rump Order, though each of them called it by a different name. The participants were: Harry, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Ron, Luna, George, Hermione, Oliver, Katie, Lisa, and Neville. Ginny was the only one that they debated on, Bill and Harry, and ultimately she was not included, the two of them deciding that she was just not interested in enough in the overall picture.

The Hogwarts people and the Weasley parents were the easy cuts, along with Rachel Brunsden and Penelope Clearwater, neither of whom wanted to be deeply involved. Penelope had somehow managed the weekend off and was in Zurich with Percy. While Harry was observing Quidditch practices during the day, he and Keenan, there for a visit and chat, had bet another five galleons on whether the next time they saw Penelope she would have an engagement ring on her finger, if not the wedding ring to go with it. Harry was hoping for a yes, since that's what he had placed his money on.

Bill started the meeting after everyone was finished eating:

"Okay, here we are, the Order within the Order. The rest of them assume that most of us meet behind their backs anyway, so we might as well get some use out of it. Our first, and probably only, order of business tonight is what to do about Kingsley Shacklebolt and Gawain Robards. I for one consider them to be our number two set of adversaries, behind the Malfoys. I won't use the word enemies, not yet. But the problem is, while we more or less have the Malfoys infiltrated, we have nothing approaching that level within The Ministry. Our two Order members who are full employees there, Dad and Ginny, have to be under some kind of surveillance, and cannot remotely move freely." He didn't really count Neville and Lisa, both in the Auror training program, who were kept with their classmates all session long and could not go exploring on their own, even during breaks and their lunchtime.

Harry spoke next:

"What we need to do, really, is figure out Gawain Robards. Kingsley will do whatever Robards tells him, from what I've gathered, so it's really only one person involved."

Katie cleared her throat:

"What are you saying Harry? That Robards is with the Malfoys?"

"I think it's possible, yes. More than possible is the feeling in my gut. He could be their tool, or they could be his tools, you never know. But those people suborned a lot of Ministers of Magic, I don't see a reason they couldn't do it to him."

Neville got up and started pacing:

"I don't know what's worse here, if we're right, or we're wrong."

Bill was nodding in agreement.

"I know, if we're wrong, then we've alienated the two most politically powerful people in our society, probably for good. If we're right, then it's Fudge all over again, only this time we're dealing with someone with actual brains."

Hermione never said much during Order meetings, but felt that she had to start now.

"The real question is, and we really can't get away from it whatever we decide: How will we know either way? Unless The Minister comes out with something radical, there's no way to really know is there?"

Neville responded:

"Robards has already been chipping away at our freedoms, ever so slightly, like in taking away the government contracts of those advertising in The True Voice, like Amos Diggory told Harry. Now they'll couch it as a sop to Harry, to keep our society's icon happy. But what if the real reason was criticism of the government? That's the thing with Robards, he exudes an air of competence that Fudge simply never had, so people don't look that closely at his measures sometimes, since they just assume that he knows what he's doing. It might have been that way with Scrimgeour if things hadn't been in such turmoil when he took over, he never got a chance. It's been so long since we've had a decent Minister that we don't really know how to handle it."

The room thought that that was an impressive way of looking at both sides of the argument, even if it was not clear which of the sides Neville was coming down on. Harry presented/reminded them with their real problem.

"Let's get back to how we would know for sure. There are probably only two people who can tell us, at most three. One is obviously Robards himself, the second being Lucius Malfoy. The third, if there is one, is Draco, one reason I wanted him here. Now I think it's obvious that none of them are going to level with us without force, so the real question is which one we grab."

Bill let everyone ponder that for a moment before supplying his own preference.

"Gawain Robards never appears in public without a four person security detail, and that's the four we know about, the ones who are visible and obvious bodyguards. One can presume that he has some on the sly as well. Plus, from what Dad and others have told me, Robards doesn't go out much anyway, he's a homebody. This walking tour he did was very out of character for him, based on what we know, he spent more time in Diagon Alley in one week than he usually does in six months. If he does Knockturn next week or Hogsmeade maybe, that will up the ante. The only way we snatch Robards is if we are fully prepared to go outlaw, and right now I'm not ready to do that. Ready or willing."

No one was willing to argue with him on that, or disagree for that matter. Not a one of them was quite so brazen as to kidnap The Minister of Magic. Harry cleared his throat, but those of him expecting to speak for snatching Robards were soon disabused of that.

"I'm with Bill, it's not a consideration right now. So that leaves one of the Malfoys. It's far more likely that Lucius knows more than Draco, so I think it should be him. We need to grab Lucius."

George scoffed just a little bit.

"And how do we do that? I'm in and around Diagon Alley all the time, and I never see him. I heard through the grapevine that he has an office in Knockturn, but none of us could get away with going in there. We would be watched like hawks the second we approached the dividing line."

Bill weighed in again.

"Then either we take him at Gringotts, which is not a good idea for many, many reasons. Or we get Narcissa to tell us where Malfoy Manor is and we do a direct assault. But a direct assault means that we get Draco too, and anyone else in the house, we can't leave any witnesses behind. Now, Neville, you grew up with house elves didn't you?" He knew that Fleur had not, nor his family or Luna.

"I did, sure. I think Gran's got half a dozen working for her now."

"If Longbottom Manor was raided, and your grandmother taken prisoner, do they have any instructions to go to the DMLE or anyone else in The Ministry?"

"I have no earthly idea." Neville was certainly wondering now though.

"Please find out. You're the Longbottom scion, so your major domo should be willing to tell you. If not, suck it up and ask your grandmother." He had heard of her reputation, but didn't see a third alternative there.

"Sure, I'll go over there tomorrow before the game. Harry, what are Kreacher's instructions?"

"He doesn't have any, this place is supposed to be impregnable. But he does know that anyone not in The Order or accompanied by someone who lives here is to be ejected without question. I guess I just figured that was good enough."

"Best to make sure after the meeting is over, especially with Teddy here."

Teddy was in bed right now, with Kreacher checking on him every five minutes. Harry was now ready to leave Teddy in Kreacher's care if no one else was in the house, for short periods of time. Not for Quidditch practice babysitting, though that was more along the lines of Harry just wanting Teddy to be around people than anything against Kreacher.

"Good idea, I always love having chats with Kreacher. He might know if the Blacks had such an arrangement, that might be a model for the Malfoys. Now, is anyone, right this minute, opposed to the idea of a Lucius kidnapping? It's one that won't happen for at least a month, more than likely, but are we in agreement that it needs to take place?"

To the surprise of no one, Hermione was one to object, with Luna indicating that she was not comfortable either. Bill called on Luna first.

"Luna, what's your objection?"

"I just don't think that we have enough evidence to do this. All we have are theories, nothing more. Take this to any DMLE Head in the world not named Amos Diggory, and they would laugh us out of their offices. Diggory would just have us arrested."

"Interesting, and you're not wrong. Hermione?"

"I agree with Luna as well, but my serious problem is that I just don't like that we're stooping to their level with a kidnapping. Like they tried to do with Percy, and that we prevented. We've gone into the muck a little bit with what we've done to Narcissa and what we did to Anson Parkinson before the deal, but this is crossing a line that cannot be uncrossed. That leaves aside that this entire kidnapping would have to go bloody perfectly to avoid us all being brought up on charges, serious charges. It wouldn't matter who was physically there and who was not, the entire Order would be compromised. I will support the will of the group of course, and will go to Malfoy Manor if you and Harry assign me to, but you had better be right, or we're in a lot of trouble."

"I can't refute any of that Hermione, not a word. But we're being herded into a corner by someone, and I for one would like to know if Gawain Robards is the man behind the curtain." Bill got some confused looks, and told them about The Wizard of Oz, which none but Hermione and Harry had seen. Even Lisa, a muggleborn, had never seen it.

"It's like I told Kingsley that day Hermione, Dumbledore was herded into a similar corner, and he didn't try to break out of it until it was too late. I don't like the idea of breaking the law to that degree either, but if we don't act soon, it will be too late."

Hermione sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair for a moment.

"Very well. All those in favor of mounting a raid on Malfoy Manor within the next five weeks, raise your hands."

Everyone raised an arm into the air, even Luna and Hermione, both of whom felt that it should be unanimous.

The physical line had not been crossed yet, but the mental one now was.

End Chapter


	28. Hidden Agendas

Sunday, October 26, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

5:45 pm

Puddlemere United, a bit rusty after having three of the last four weeks off, had a lot of trouble with the Caerphilly Catapults, who had played eight games in a row before the Hogwarts byes and were a bit more sharp. The game lasted just over two hours, the Snitch being unwilling to let either Harry or Catapults Seeker Raina McWherter get close enough to really make a chase for it until the very end. So a very bored Harry watched a Quaffle slugfest from high in the air. It was interesting to a point, but eventually he got a bit frustrated with it all, two hours is a long time to spend looking for a small golden ball, even if you're being compensated handsomely for it.

Eventually the Snitch did appear, Harry fought off McWherter, his predecessor as Gryffindor's Seeker, to get it, and Puddlemere won 450-260. This victory, making them 6-2, put them in a tie for second place with the Harpies, behind only Tutshill. Everyone was very pleased with the result, particularly the offensive performance, and Clive was full of smiles as he dismissed the team. Harry was just pleased that his Snitch streak was still intact, though the big test was looming next week against the idle this week Ballycastle Bats. Their Seeker was Patrice Filbert, who was first string on the Canadian National Team, and the only other Seeker to have gotten every Snitch this season so far. His defense was even worse than Puddlemere's though, so the game was not considered to be a big deal, and a likely Puddlemere victory. But The Daily Prophet would begin their hype of the Seeker match-up with the next day's edition.

Filbert was not on Harry's mind, though, as he assembled with the rest of the Order at 12. The big news of the day was something that Harry had not been aware of, but had been announced in The Daily Prophet's Sunday morning edition:

The engagement announcement of Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. It was the most prominent news in that part of the paper, though there was no accompanying story besides the basic details. The wedding was set for Saturday, November 29. The time and place were not mentioned though, nor were any pertinent details beyond who was getting hitched and the names of their parents.

Bill and Fleur did get the Prophet delivered, so they had known about it, and had time to think. They took Harry and Neville aside as everyone started with their dinner.

"I think we've found our way in, to grab Lucius." Bill showed Harry the announcement, torn out of the paper.

"You want to do the snatch at the wedding?" He was wondering when Pansy and/or Anson would be paying them a visit to complain, but was quickly warming to the plan-to-be.

"Right in one. I'm guessing it'll either be at Malfoy Manor, or the Parkinson house, which can't possibly be as warded. Find out which from Narcissa tomorrow."

Neville was smiling.

"I like it, their guard will have to be somewhat down then too."

"We can only hope, and it gives us just shy of five weeks to plan. Let's just pray that it's at Pansy's, not Draco's, life will be much easier."

"Are we going to drop this on the group today?" Neville was already doing the vote counting in his head.

"Yes, but we're going to leave out the large-ish group that decided it last night. Let them all assume that it's us, but we'll officially say that you and I decided it Harry, since we're the leaders." Bill was still the titular Head of the Order, but he had never made a pretense of Harry not being co-leader with him.

"Fine with me, but you should be the one to sell it to them."

"I've been thinking of it quite a bit since we made the decision last night. I have some idea that I'll float to the group, do your level best not to look surprised when I spit them out."

"Got it Boss." He loved taking the piss out of Bill with that moniker.

"Please don't start with that again." Every time they had lunch Bill had to hear terms like that thrown at him.

"Whatever you say sir."

Cue snickering from Fleur and Neville, as the four of them repaired into the living room for their dinner. After the meal, Bill got up to address the group.

"Now that we're all full to the bursting, and who knew that someone as grouchy as Kreacher would have four star cooking skills, we need to talk about something. Gawain Robards and what, if anything, he might up to, that's our topic. This is something we've all been thinking about for weeks, but I've avoided bringing it up here at our meetings. That stops now. Dad, you know him best by a long way. What's your view?"

Arthur took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"It would not shock me to learn that he's on the Malfoy payroll, but then again nothing would shock me at The Ministry nowadays. He seems to be a decent man, with good manners and no flagrant weaknesses. I can't say I like him on a personal level, but I don't dislike him either."

"Is it possible that he runs Lucius and not the other way round?"

"Yes, but I have to wonder what he could offer Lucius to get him to take orders." Arthur answered his eldest son right away, clearly the idea had occurred to him too.

"Something to think about. Thanks Dad. Minerva? You deal with him a lot as well, what do you think?"

"I don't much care for him as a person, he's rather cold and unfeeling if you ask me. As Minister? He's better than we've had, and that says a lot about why the public supports him. He's very careful, that seems to be his trademark, he never moves further than he absolutely has to."

If McG saw any irony in calling someone cold, she didn't show it. But her take was eliciting nods of agreement from Flitwick and Slughorn, both of whom had known Robards for years. Bill looked at Soren Bender.

"Soren, you've worked with him directly. What do you think?"

The lanky former Auror leaned forward in her seat.

"I don't see any reason why he would take Malfoy money, the man does not have a materialistic bone in his body. I've been in his house, there's no way that he spends all his Ministry salary unless he has a gambling problem that no one knows about. But him running Lucius? I could see that, with our Malfoy friend going along in order to gain power, then dispose of Robards along the way. Not that that will happen probably, Robards, if he's one thing, is thorough. He'll have a plan for everything. Whether he's with Malfoy or not, he has a plan for The Order and how to deal with us. He just needs to take it out and implement it. That's how he is. You don't get to where he is without being able to sidestep a few curses along the way."

Bill stopped that part of the discussion then, no one else had really talked with Robards other than Harry and Hermione that one time, and they had made a full report to the group afterward. He looked at the room.

"Here's the thing about Robards: We need to know where he is, and there're only two people who can tell us: Robards himself, and Lucius Malfoy. Robards is too well protected to grab, so it has to be Lucius."

Ginny coughed to interrupt him.

"Hang on here, we're going to kidnap Lucius Malfoy?"

"To get him to talk, yes. Just like we did with Anson Parkinson and we more or less did with Narcissa Malfoy. It's not the situation of choice, but I will not repeat the mistakes of last time when Dumbledore didn't act until it was too late."

It was a telling indictment of Dumbledore's past actions that neither Flitwick and McGonagall, both Dumbledore loyalists for longer than most in the room had been alive, raised an objection to Bill's statement. Ginny continued:

"And then we let him go?" Ginny's voice did not give a yes or no to that idea.

"It depends on what he confesses to. He might just have to disappear, yes."

"That's murder you know."

"It's called being responsive Ginny. If he's in league with Robards and Merlin knows who else, we might not have a choice. It's not like we can turn him over to the proper authorities can we? Next in line is Wival Vendish and no way in hell do I want that guy to be Minister." Vendish was Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and was arguably more suited to muggle politics than anyone else in that body, as he was always canvassing for votes and trying to build coalitions, promising anything and everything in the process. Bill thought that if anyone was on the Malfoy payroll, it was Vendish, even if it was just on retainer. Narcissa had claimed, under drugs, that he was not, but Bill thought it likely that Lucius would keep a contact at that high a level to himself.

"What about The International Confederation? Surely they can step in."

Bill could barely believe how dense his little sister was being.

"Did they ever before? Did they with Fudge? Or Thicknesse? We had muggleborn genocide going on, and they didn't lift a bloody finger. Now, I want a show of hands. Who thinks that we should NOT abduct Lucius Malfoy to see what he knows. Raise 'em high folks."

There were people in the room, such as Molly, Ginny, and Flitwick, who clearly did not like the idea of a kidnapping, but like Hermione and Luna from the night before, they did not want to wind up on the minority side of the issue. Molly's non-vote was more along the lines of keeping her toe in the water, feeling that it was not out of the question that Harry might try to exclude her from The Order completely if she crossed him again.

Not true, Harry wanted no part of that and how it might look to the others, but Molly wasn't willing to try to find that out.

"Good, I'm glad that we're in lack of disagreement. Now I'm assuming that you all read The Daily Prophet today and found out that our inside woman Pansy Parkinson is now engaged to Draco Malfoy. Let me assure you that this is not something that she wants, or so she told us under drugs. The wedding also provides the perfect setting for our removal of Lucius from the proverbial Pitch. It will be crowded, the guy will be distracted, and we should be able to take him given that we have a bit over a month to plan this."

Ron raised his hand a bit to interject.

"Are we going to at least debate a bit about doing a frontal assault and going in wands firing? Their entire side of the war will be there, it could be our big chance to knock them down. Will they ever be grouped like that in semi-public anytime soon?"

The older people looked at Ron like he was crazy, and Ginny was shaking her head too. But Bill was not joining them.

"It's something to think about if things escalate Ron, and I'm glad that you brought it up. If the status quo does not change, and I don't think it will, then we'll do a stealth job on them."

"Why don't you think it will?" Ron was still pleased that Bill wasn't shooting him down, and was actually pleased at the disgusted looks that his parents were giving him.

"Because Lucius is going to want this wedding taken care of and out of his way before he ramps things up. That's just my theory, we'll know more as the weeks progress. If they keep provoking us though…….well, we'll have a plan in place. Now Harry and I have talked about this, and as things stand, there are a few of us who are guaranteed to be going on this kidnapping mission."

Everyone was pricking up their ears in anticipation of who would go, and more importantly who would not.

"Right now our crew is Charlie, Fleur, myself, and Harry. We're going no matter what. What criteria am I using? We're the ones with the least to lose if this goes to hell on us. Fleur and I can always settle in France, Charlie can go back to Romania, and Harry is rich enough that he and Teddy can go live in Antarctica if he wants to. The rest of you have careers and such here, and have more at stake. Yes, Kingsley and Diggory will roast you a bit if we pooch it, but they won't be able to make anything stick. We might need more than the four of us, and I'm assuming that Pansy and Anson Parkinson will be active players here. But the rest of you should work on the assumption that you will not be going on the mission. As of right now that is. Anyone who wants to convince Harry or I otherwise, feel free to do so in private, not here, not right now."

He paused for a moment to let that sink in. Bill had come up with his list during breakfast, in consultation with his wife and brother. Of the lot of them, he thought that George and Ron were the most likely to want to come along. Hermione he was not so sure of, he knew that however much she loved Harry, she was not in favor of the snatch, and he was under the impression that she had been dreaming of being a Hogwarts professor for years.

Bill also knew that his parents, the other Hogwarts professors, and Rachel and Neil Brunsden would not be interested in going. All of them were too well established in their careers to risk what might happen, and banishment or prison. The rest were in the middle, and he was very interested to see who approached him.

Bender, the one in the group who had been trained in planning raids, spoke up.

"So what's the plan?"

"First we have to know where the wedding is, and then we'll start. Everyone will have their say in the planning, but the ones who will spend the most time on it are our Puddlemere contingent, simply because they have the most free time. Soren, I would like you to make yourself available for their questions and for tactical input. Lisa, Neville, see if you can glean anything from your instructors after class. Don't be specific of course, but talk to them about urban assaults and the like."

"I know who to talk to there." Neville, like many of them, was trying to decide if he wanted to volunteer for the mission.

The rest of the meeting was given over to more general business, as well as speculation on how quickly the Parkinsons were going to approach them about stopping the wedding. Everyone who didn't live there had left by 7:00 pm, and the ones who remained had a brief lottery on who got dibs on some internet time. Even Ron had taken to it, though it was strictly explained that no one outside the house was to be told about the existence of the computer and what it could do. Harry and Charlie probably spent the most time on it, since they were home in the afternoon, and were talking about buying some games for it. While Neville was taking his turn, Harry and Hermione sat in Teddy's room.

"Are you sure about this Harry?"

"I take it you're talking about Lucius and not Teddy's crayon drawings?" He was rearranging them on the wall.

"I do love it when you choose to be droll, but yes, I'm talking about this kidnapping." A bit exasperated she was, but she was still smiling a little.

"The word 'sure' is a funny one Hermione. It implies fact, when all it really does it state a belief. Do I know for a fact that this is the right play? Nope. Do I believe that it is? Well I can't think of anything better, and believe me I've tried. Do you have a better idea?"

"I don't see why we can't wait and see a bit more before we act."

"We are waiting, they have just shy of five weeks to get their acts together. Which they won't, but that's their problem."

"Would you kill him?" She had a feeling that she knew that answer to that, but had to ask anyway.

"Why the heck not? He killed his own sister-in-law just to try and inconvenience me, life clearly means nothing to this man."

"But that's why you, and we, are better than he is. Because it does mean something to us." It was almost a plea.

"The biggest mistake I ever made was not allowing Sirius and Remus to kill Peter Pettigrew when I had the chance. And I've made some very big mistakes in my life Hermione. That decision led not only to their deaths, but to Dumbledore's, Fred's, Tonks'……the list goes on. Now one can say that I was 13 bloody years old at the time, and I didn't know better. That's how I've justified it to myself over the years, you know that. But I do know better now. I was willing to leave well enough alone darling, I didn't make a public fuss about the deal Lucius and Draco made to stay out of prison. And the thanks I got? Smear jobs in their newsletter, Andromeda dead, multiple attacks on me on trains and on the Quidditch Pitch, and their incessant goading of me into doing something stupid. I could emigrate to America or Oz right now, and they would still follow me there, or send assassins after me, just because of the potential threat I might be. No, I won't have peace until those two are neutralized. If that means their corpses in the ground, then so be it."

Harry had become more vehement with every sentence, and what made Hermione sad was that she couldn't argue with a single point that he had made. It was all true.

"Is that why you tried to get Draco to our side? To exhaust all chances?"

"It was a secondary motive, thinking that he might have some potential. But Lucius would have still needed to be dealt with. I won't be grinning over their bodies Hermione, I promise you that. But I won't be weeping either. They had their chance at peace, and pissed on it. I don't dare turn my back on them again, not while I have Teddy to worry about. Sooner or later they're going to target him, or you, and then the shit will really be in the fire."

"I wish I could say that you're wrong, but you're not. Do you want me to volunteer for the mission?"

Harry was more than a little surprised that she backed down so quickly, but he wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth. Still, he was a bit concerned, and his answer reflected it.

"Not if your heart's not in it, no. We'll have plenty of volunteers, don't worry. Besides, I don't know that we're not better off with just the four of us plus the Parkinsons. The real question here, is if we get nailed, which I don't think we will, will you leave Britain with me?"

"Of course I will." She said that immediately, and was rewarded with a smile.

"I'm glad, though I should have said, with 'us', because Teddy and Kreacher will be coming."

"Oh dear, you've come to see Kreacher as part of the family now." She was grinning now, after all the serious talk.

"He's very handy to have around, admit it."

"True, a better cook than either of us are……..okay, your meal for my birthday was excellent." She had remembered that at the last possible moment.

"Yes he is, though I have my moments. But yeah, Kreacher is part of the family." He could barely believe it either, but he knew that 12 ran like a Swiss watch because of the crotchety little house elf.

"Who else will volunteer do you think?"

"I'd be shocked if Ron and George don't, and Luna is a wild card. Lucius was not very kind to her when she was his guest last year. How much lust for revenge does she have in her?" He said it rhetorically, but got an answer anyway.

"I have no clue, she's built a few walls hasn't she? It makes her difficult to figure out."

"I'm not sure that she's not better off that way."

"Oliver and Katie?"

"They'll be vetoed if they offer, which they will. A Quidditch career is finite in length and I won't let either of them miss so much as a game for this."

"Aren't you in the same position?" She thought she knew the answer, but wanted to see what he would say.

"I'm rich, neither of them are." Quidditch players made very good money, but it took a long career to become set for life out of it, and Katie was in just her third year, Oliver in his fifth. Not quite there yet.

Hermione was tempted to go on about the speculation, but ultimately decided that she wanted to be surprised. Instead, she moved the topic back to the Malfoys.

"You've been sitting on this Draco offer for a week, when are you going to make your play with it?"

"Tomorrow is the opening salvo, part of the comfortable conversation I'm going to have with his dear mother."

Monday, October 27, 1999

Hogwarts, Office of the Flying Instructor

5:45 pm

Narcissa was finishing up her weekly Teddy visit, which mainly involved him playing with his crayons and her commenting on what he drew. Not the most intellectually stimulating way to spend an hour, but she didn't seem to mind. She had commented to the Puddlemere people the week before that these visits were the most relaxation that she got all week. Odd for someone without a job or financial worries, but Harry and Katie had just smiled and nodded as if that made total sense.

Today it was Harry and Charlie, and they had things to talk about with the darling Narcissa. Harry started off:

"So, we read about the engagement announcement in the paper yesterday, congratulations."

Narcissa was instantly on her guard, even though she had known that some comment about the engagement had to be coming at some point.

"Thank you." Waiting for the bomb to drop.

"Five weeks isn't a lot of lead up time for the big doings, will you be ready?"

"I'm sure we will be, Hester Parkinson will be handling the lion's share of them, but I'll do some."

"I suppose an invitation would be out of the question." Harry said it with a grin.

"You never know with Draco, sometimes he has an ironic sense of humor."

"Maybe I'll get lucky."

"Even you're not so bold Potter, you'd never put yourself in a room in which half the people want to kill you and the other half want you in St. Mungo's." In the Gilderoy Lockhart section.

Then Harry struck.

"I gave him an invitation myself nine days ago, I wonder if he mentioned it."

"I'm sorry, an invitation to what?"

Which told Harry and Charlie that he hadn't said anything to his dear mother. Harry continued:

"To join The Order of the Phoenix."

Narcissa had been holding a couple of Teddy's crayons in her hand, they fell right away, bouncing off Teddy's foot, causing him to start.

"You did what?"

"You heard me. I gather that he said nothing about it?"

"Of course not……what the hell are you playing at Potter?"

"Think about geese and ganders Narcissa, you lot aren't the only ones who can do mind games. Do you think he told Lucius?"

"I have no idea. What did he tell you?"

"He said no, but only after a week of thinking about it. That's how long I gave him to do it, he sent me a message with his answer an hour before the deadline I gave him." Which was the start of the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff Quidditch game.

"Oh my God." She was trying to think of if there was any sign that she had missed.

"You see, you aren't the only one wavering. His refusal was unambiguous, yes, but he took a long time to spit it out."

"Let me guess, you're going to tell Lucius."

"Not flat out, but I'll find a way to torment him with it somehow. What about you? Do you want an invitation?"

"Don't make me laugh, your people would never allow me inside your organization. My son yes, because of his potential, but not me."

"Our people will do as I tell them to, and you damn well know it. The offer is yours though, consider it proffered." He hadn't meant the first part, but his policy was always to make the Malfoys think that he was the sole decider, so that they would not necessarily see coming Bill and his different way of thinking about things.

"Why thank you Potter, so generous."

"I am Narcissa, actually. You're alive aren't you? Wouldn't be too much trouble to kill you would it?"

"I'm too valuable to kill."

"Yes you are, and you have shown admirable qualities as well. I won't say that I like you, but watching you play with my godson doesn't turn my stomach the way it would have a few months ago."

Narcissa was equal to the task.

"And likewise I have to admit that you are doing a fine job of raising my great-nephew, he seems to be happy and well adjusted, considering what has happened to him. Does he ask about her?"

Harry presumed that she meant Andromeda.

"Not as much as he did at the start, the concept of death still rather eludes him."

"I'm glad, he's lost so much. What about……..what about Lupin's problem? Has he shown any signs?"

Teddy was engrossed in his drawing, and had somehow learned to tune out adult talk, and the two adults in question were very carefully not using his name.

"Nothing so far, I watched very carefully at the last full moon, nothing out of the ordinary. During my next Quidditch dead period I'm going to take him to a specialist in Belfast that deals with this kind of thing, see what's going on, if anything." The BQL's winter break was due to start after four more games were played, with the season resuming the first Sunday in February. Practices were to cut down as well, due to the long-ish layoff.

"Very wise, validating my compliment even more. I would like to accompany you, if you don't mind."

Harry had made the appointment, well before the kidnapping talk and engagement, for the Tuesday after the Pansy/Draco wedding. He didn't have the moxie to tell her that she might be a widow when that appointment came about, or at the very least the wife of a missing person. He hesitated long enough that Charlie made his first foray into that topic.

"You'd be welcome, it'll just be the four of us then." He waved his hand at the four people in the room, while Harry managed to act as if this wasn't news to him, Charlie coming along.

"Thank you. Now I had better be going." She gave Teddy a brief hug, and got up off of the floor.

"You never answered my question Narcissa, about joining us."

"I know……Harry. Goodbye." Without another word or gesture, she got into the floo and was off, to The Leaky Cauldron this time, not Bill's office. Charlie turned to his landlord.

"Well that was interesting."

"She's growing on me Charlie………you never heard me say that."

Cue the laughter, and the two men started collecting Teddy's things for the floo ride back to 12. Hermione would be eating at Hogwarts tonight, Monday night was her wall to wall paperwork night, so it would be a boys only evening at 12. Right as Charlie was reaching for the floo powder, the fireplace fired. It was George.

"Hey guys, glad I caught you still there. You need to come by the shop, we have some visitors."

"What kind of visitors?"

"An engaged woman and her equally pissed off sibling."

Oh, that kind.

Charlie volunteered to take Teddy home, and Harry reluctantly flooed over to WWW.

Where he was greeted by Pansy and Anson Parkinson, and Ron and George, who were just closing up. George was looking especially harried, as a Hogsmeade weekend was two weeks away, and he had some stockpiling to do for the booth he and Ron were going to set up. Harry got right to the point.

"So congratulations I guess, on your first engagement."

"Her first?" Anson wasn't getting the joke, though the other three were.

"Well since she's not getting married this time, one assumes that she will in the future, to someone besides Draco."

Anson had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Right, sorry."

"No problem. Where are the festivities?" He had decided not to tip any hands to Narcissa, taking the chance that one or more Parkinsons would be paying a call.

"At our manor, both the ceremony and the reception afterward."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and added a grin.

"I could dance a jig, if I could dance that is. What I'm about to tell you is Order business and the parchment will bind you to it."

"You really don't have to keep saying that every time you know."

"I'm covering my skinny little rear end Pansy, but thanks. We are going to borrow Lucius Malfoy while he's at your wedding. Borrow or steal, we're not sure if we're going to return him. Part of your Order duties will involve getting a team of us into your house, and escape routes and all that fun stuff. There are at least four of us going, you only need to know about me for the time being, and you two will make at least six. And I expect both of you to fully embrace this operation. Of course you will, because an added benefit will be that you will be kidnapped too Pansy, so no wedding. Just make sure you don't sign any marriage licenses beforehand."

"I'm told that it's done afterward, I don't know how the muggles do it."

"I'm sure you don't care either. But either Draco will be killed in the assault, or you will be coming out with us. Now we don't want to kill him right then, we don't want the attention. But if things go south on us, we'll need to fight our way out."

"So in a perfect scenario, no one will even know you're there?"

"Right Anson, that's the plan right now. Though we don't have much of a plan in the way of details, since we didn't know where the wedding is. Now we do. By Wednesday I want one of you to deliver a detailed blueprint of your house, along with some ideas on how you're going to get our team inside. Questions?"

Pansy had one:

"Just so we're clear, I will not be saying I do to Draco, so any plan you come up with had better factor that in."

"Just make sure that the vows don't happen any earlier than they are supposed to. Part of our deal is that we break up your wedding to that git, and we'll keep our end. As long as you keep yours."

"We will, you don't have to worry about us."

Harry had a rather boring night planned, but he still didn't want to waste any more of it on these people, so he looked at them.

"Was there anything in particular you came here for? Or was it just to remind us that your clock as a single woman is ticking?"

Pansy answered him:

"We didn't need to say anything, you addressed it straight away. That's what I like about the new you Potter, you don't beat about the bush." Another compliment from Pansy.

"Gosh, thanks. Anything else?"

"I want you to sneak me into the castle Friday night. I have a meeting set up with some Slytherin leaders and I doubt your buddy McGonagall will just give me a safe conduct pass."

"You never know. What time is your meeting?"

"7:00 pm, right after dinner."

"Fair enough, be here at 6:30 and floo to my office. Say Mr. Potter's office in the floo, but it has to be from here, it can't be accessed from just anywhere." Part of Harry's deal with the Head of the Floo Regulatory Board. He left out that he was going to stick around for any meetings, surely she understood that.

"See you then." The Parkinsons, without any further farewells, used the floo to go to Gringotts, while the three of them left agreed that it was time to go home. Ron took the floo first, and George hesitated before getting in.

"She's up to something Harry."

"Who?" Harry had been thinking about dinner.

"Pansy Parkinson. This is two times in a row that she's been giving you those looks, and now she's invited herself to Hogwarts with you on Friday? Something is going on, she has her own agenda."

"Oh c'mon mate, that's reaching a bit. The other day was just her thinking about the road not traveled, or offered. If I had shaken Draco's hand and all that, I would have been sorted into Slytherin and she might be where Hermione is now. That's all this is."

"But you've thought about it, that's saying something right there."

"I think about a lot of things George, and I've examined this Pansy/Anson deal from as many angles as I can think of. Besides, whatever delusions she may have of me and her, they're not going to happen anyway. Hermione and I are happy, and even if we weren't, my eyes would not travel in Pansy's direction."

George's eyebrows went way up.

"Oh really? And where would they travel?"

"None of your business there tenant." In fact it was Luna, whom Harry had chosen Hermione over. He loved Hermione and liked Luna, but there had been a time that he had wondered if there was just too much drama attached to a Hermione relationship, and what it would mean for him and Ron. A brief time, but a time nonetheless.

"Speaking of the tenant thing."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to let Ginny stay here til the end of the year, assuming that I can keep my room at 12. She's due for a raise then, and might be able to afford her own place, maybe."

"The Luna negotiations didn't pan out?"

"No, Luna feels that her father needs her at home. I don't know how the guy managed while she was at school, to hear Luna talk. But there's nothing doing there, and Ginny has no other close friends."

"Well sure, you can stay as long as you like. You guys baby-sit Teddy, so there's still no question of you paying rent."

"Thanks, it's a good deal all around. There is one problem though."

"I'm listening."

"We need another computer, there's just not enough time for the lot of us on that one."

Harry had been expecting something more serious, and was startled into laughter.

"You're not the first to say it either."

"I know, and Ron and I will cough up for the next one, Hermione told us how much they cost."

They made plans to go shopping on Saturday, after Harry's Quidditch meetings. Now that practices were essentially limited, Harry had meetings on Saturday with each of the House Captains to discuss strategies and practice regimens. All four showed up, especially given that they received House Cup points for doing so, though some were more active than others.

On Wednesday, Anson Parkinson delivered the blueprints as per request. Parkinson Manor was not under any kind of Fidelius or Unplottable Charms, so getting into the house was a simple matter of being escorted in by someone who lived there or was a member of the family. Both Pansy, who lived there, and Anson, a member of the family, qualified. So there was no need to disguise them as guests, or caterers or anything of that nature.

Over the course of the week, Ron, George, Oliver, Katie, and Luna all volunteered to go on the wedding caper. Oliver and Katie were rejected straight away, very gently, by Harry as he had told Hermione. He did everything that he could to make clear that it was solely out of concern for their careers in the real world, not because he didn't think that they would be valuable additions to the mission. They accepted his decision without a ton of argument, and assured him that they would do everything that they could from the sidelines to help out.

Ron and George were told to hang tight for the time being, Harry and Bill wanted to see what plan was conceived and how many people would be needed for it. They were told, truthfully, that if the mission needed two more people, it would be them. Harry promised Fred that he would set WWW up in whatever country they emigrated to. Probably France, since Robards and his French counterpart did not get along, and there was no extradition treaty. Harry and Fleur, to the collective amusements of their friends, were actually doing the French lessons that they had talked about early on, and Harry now felt that he was a bit better at French than Teddy was at English.

Luna was also told to sit tight, that a decision would made on her later on. Harry wondered out loud about her wanting to come, what with her father and The Quibbler to think about, but she told him that her conscience had to come first. Neville and Lisa were informed that they would not be volunteering even if they were so inclined. They needed to stick it out in Auror training and be part of The Ministry, for the future. Ginny did not make any attempt to volunteer, nor was she talked to about it.

Friday, October 31, 1999

Hogwarts, Office of the Flying Instructor

6:30 pm

Pansy appeared in Harry's floo as per the agreement, after giving the weekly Parkinson report to George about their Listeners placed in and around Malfoy Manor. Once in Hogwarts she gave Harry the highlights of the report as well as she looked around.

"Not much for decorating are you?"

"What do I need an office for?"

"Meetings like this?"

"What the hell……..you mean it's here that you're meeting those Slytherins?"

"Can you think of a more secure place? I mean, you sweep this room, right?" And she didn't mean sweeping with a broom either.

"Of course I do. But are you sure about those kids? What if one of them is dragging on you and outs you to his or her parents?"

"I'm kidding Harry, we're not meeting here. There's an unused room near Snape's old office, we use it for things like this." She was amused at the reaction on his face, she would have to do this more often.

"How many of them are coming?"

"Four, all from fifth and sixth year. You're going to be there I take it?"

"Yes I am, and that's why you're going to move the meeting to Arithmancy classroom B. Just in case anyone gets any ideas."

"Is it me that you don't trust, or the young Slytherins?"

"You have to earn trust, and you're not there yet. And no, I don't trust four Slytherins against lil ole me on ground of their choosing."

"Why do I get the idea that it's not just the two of us in here right now?" She didn't mind though, it was very Slytherin of Harry to do something like that.

"I wouldn't know. We should get going." Harry made a motion with his hand, and Pansy reluctantly went out first.

There was no small talk on the way to dungeon area, and they got there a few minutes before the scheduled time. Harry did a quick check of the room, no one inside.

"I'm going to Disillusion myself now, any false moves and there will be repercussions."

"We're not allowed to attack each other, remember?"

"I do remember, but I'll be ready for any funny business." He put the spell on himself, and disappeared.

The four Slytherins got there in due order, coming together, and Pansy informed them of the change of venue. When asked why, she replied:

"I have it on good authority that our meeting room has been compromised."

"How do you know that?"

"I have a contact on the faculty, that's all I'll say."

She led them up to Arithmancy Classroom B, which was three floors and a trick staircase up. She made sure to leave the door open long enough to allow Harry to duck inside.

The meeting, which lasted only thirty minutes due to the Halloween party that was coming up in The Great Hall at 8:00 pm, was Pansy's recruitment pitch for Slytherins to get more Defense oriented, but within the existing system.

"I see no reason why one of you fifth years' can't be leading the DA in two years, if you play your cards right. Bender may be a Gryffindor, but she's tough and fair, she'll be reasonable if you are too."

"Is she your contact?"

"No, but I won't say who."

"I'm guessing that you don't want us harassing Gryffindors any longer."

"I don't mind that, just don't do it for no reason. Picking on a first year muggleborn for the hell of it makes us all look bad, students and alumni alike. Like we're being mean because we can be. Look, I don't like the muggleborns, and I was not against what Voldemort was doing. But they're not going anywhere now, they have official status now, and people feel sorry for them because of what Voldemort did. What you need to do is try and assimilate them into our way of life, and keep their muggle type influence at a minimum. In other words, make them like us, and not us like them. That's the way to do it, that's how we keep our world the way it should be."

This went on for another 10 minutes, and Harry couldn't help but be impressed by it. He didn't agree with much of it, he did have a computer in his house, soon to be two, and a cell phone in his pocket. But all in all he preferred her message of non-violence to the way Lucius was going about things, and had gone about them in the past.

At 7:35 Pansy sent them on their way, the last one closed the door behind him. Harry took the spell off himself and appeared.

"That went well, you were very good."

"Thanks, I think they bought into it. But it will take more convincing, if we have the time."

"Why wouldn't we? This wedding thing might not even cause a blip."

"If you say so. I'll set up another one next week with these people and some different ones, spreading the message."

"The message being change the muggleborns instead of killing them?"

"Tell me, how would you adapt to living in an all muggle environment now? What's the saying? Could you go back to the farm now that you've seen Paris? Could you? Could Granger even?"

"I don't know about Hermione, we've never talked about it. I couldn't, no." He preferred the hybrid approach.

"It's really just a matter of degrees then, isn't it?"

"To a point, yes."

"When are your Order meetings?" She liked the look on his face as she shifted topic.

"Why?"

"I think Anson and I should be at them, at least until the wedding. If you're going to be planning, it would help us to be there to give advice and details about the house."

Harry was torn here, she was right, but………..

"I'll talk it over with Bill, and owl you tomorrow. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they're on the weekend, so I'll give you that much."

"Fine." She gave him another stare, and then with a word of goodbye, left the room.

Once she did, Harry clapped his hands twice, very loudly.

George took the Disillusionment spell off himself.

"You were right, that wasn't a bad pitch. And none of them even made the slightest move to go for their wands."

"You think it worked?"

"I think that at the very least it was worth our time, yeah. But it was a good idea to station me in here, just in case."

"She really thought that I was going to go to her handpicked location too, I mean talk about naïve, sheesh." They shared a laugh, and made plans to meet in Harry's office in a few minutes to go get the pizzas for dinner at 12. Once George was gone:

"You can come out Natalie."

Natalie McDonald had spent her last Quidditch meeting with Harry perfecting the Disillusionment spell that she now took off.

"That was weird Harry, being invisible like that."

"It worked though, and you were fantastic. They never heard you, not the Slytherins, not Parkinson."

That was Harry's ace in the hole. Natalie had not signed any parchments, and could fire on Pansy Parkinson if it looked like she was selling him out to the Slytherins. Pansy had been correct, it had been three of them, not two, in Harry's office.

"It was tense, but fun."

"Are you amenable to getting more involved?"

"You know I am, I'm on the team if you want me to be." This was not a case of her having a crush on Harry either, Natalie was otherwise spoken for, just liked the idea of being in on the action when it happened.

"Then you are, I want and need a person at those Prefect meetings, just in case. Now, what about that other thing I asked you to look for?"

"George was right, she does stare at you. I don't know if it's love or lust or hatred or anything in between. But it's powerful, whatever it is. It's smart of you to be watchful for it."

"Thanks Natalie, I appreciate your help and your insights. Meet me in Hermione's office tomorrow after lunch for your Defense tutoring."

That was the deal they had struck, an hour of Harry and Hermione tutoring each week for her being their inside person.

"Oh yeah, 100 points to Slytherin and 100 points to Gryffindor for a lack of bloodshed tonight."

Like George had said, it had been well worth their time.

End Chapter


	29. Planning for the Future

Sunday, November 2, 1999

Puddlemere Pond, Puddlemere United's home Pitch.

2:00 pm

For all the buildup that The Daily Prophet gave the Harry Potter/Patrice Filbert Seeker match-up, and it was a regular feature of the paper all week, the result wound up very much an anti-climax. A bout of food poisoning, gotten the night before at a muggle pub, had racked the Catapults team members, to the point that four of them were in St. Mungo's, and three more were only available if things really went south. Filbert played the game, but his body was clearly not up to the task, he was only in there because his backup was one of the four in St. Mungo's.

So a Puddlemere 430-20 victory was a very easy one, and it only took 40 minutes to boot. Harry got the Snitch without much effort, as he watched all of his Chasers go crazy against the second string Keeper for Caerphilly. Filbert had already told him before the game that unless the Snitch just appeared in front of his face, he wasn't going to be chasing after it, the mere act of flying was making him nauseous. So Harry just enjoyed the game, while keeping an eye peeled. It took three different chases, but Harry snagged it right in time, since it was heading for Filbert. As the Puddlemere players went through the motions of celebrating their hollow victory, Harry couldn't resist a question to Clive:

"We couldn't have postponed the game? I mean that was bad Clive."

Clive surprised him by laughing cynically.

"You don't know their owners Harry, or maybe you do. The Nott family, you might be acquainted with their second son."

"Theo, yes." He made a face, and his manager's smile spread upon seeing it.

"Our entire team could be murdered during the lineup announcements, and they would insist on a forfeit."

"Well now that you said who owned them, please forget that I said anything." Anything to stick it to the Notts, who were major players in The True Voice.

"Second place Harry, this is our year."

The Puddlemere players had been chuckling about that earlier in the season, but they weren't any longer. The top four teams made the playoffs, and with Puddlemere being the only current top four team not having to worry about tiring themselves out during the Euro-Cup in March, this very well could be their year.

The Order meeting was not for another two hours, so Harry took his sweet time finishing up. He and Filbert swapped a couple of stories before heading to the showers, and Harry listened to Charlie's critique of his Snitch chasing, something he had asked his housemate to do upon his signing. It was working too, Harry had incorporated some of Charlie's advice into his play this week, and it worked.

"I wonder how much better I could have been before now if Hooch had actually, you know, 'coached' me a bit. I mean what was she there for anyway? I gave more advice to Natalie the first week than she gave us in seven years of off and on playing." Even now Harry did not have a specific coach, other than Charlie. Clive was more of a Chaser oriented manager, he had played for Ravenclaw back in his day.

Later on that night Hermione would successfully talk him out of sending his Hogwarts predecessor a Howler. She pointed out that Harry and Natalie had a prior friendship, and the fact that Hooch was retired and best forgotten by anyone and everyone. Harry would reply that he thought about Hooch all the time, in that he attempted to do his Hogwarts job the opposite of the way she did, but he took the point and left the Howler business to other people.

The Order meeting was full to the bursting, as all it's members were there. Penelope had come back from her Percy visit sans engagement ring, but said that she was going back sometime in November. Percy was doing fine, she said, and Penelope had even visited Bill's friend and Percy's employer on the sly and discovered that the blacklisted Weasley was doing fine at his job, no complaints. Harry now owed Keenan five galleons for the no ring bet, and spent the rest of Penelope's report thinking of a bet that could serve as double or nothing.

Pansy and Anson Parkinson were not at the beginning of the meeting, but would join them later on. It was the result of a loud argument between Bill, Neville, and Harry the day before. Harry felt that since it was his house in the first place, and his ass on the line during the kidnapping, that anyone who could help with the planning should be there. Neville took the opposite view, feeling that this was all just too good to be true, and that it was worth the effort to add a layer of security. Bill took the middle ground, decided that the Parkinsons would be involved in the Order meetings, at least this first one, only when the meeting dealt with the wedding and it's attendant issues.

Bill gave the general meeting a chance to voice opposition to that arrangement, but no one seemed willing to argue about it. Even the Hogswarts teachers saw the utility of having Anson and Pansy around for kidnap planning, since it was their house that was the battlefield. Really it was just housekeeping and various ancillary things that the Parkinsons missed, since The Order's primary focus now was the kidnapping. And dinner, that could not be discounted. Harry was more than willing to be allied with the two Slytherins, but he was not quite willing to feed them yet. Once they were there though, Bill began:

"Okay, now that we're all here. You all have copies of the blueprint of Parkinson Manor, I want you to spend the next 30 minutes looking them over. You'll get to keep your copies, provided you have a secure place to put there, but I want ideas today. Pansy, since you're the one who lives there now, I'll ask you: When is a good time to do a dress rehearsal of whatever plan we come up with? Is there a regular time that both your parents are absent?"

"Friday night would be best, but I don't know what the house elves might tell them. I mean the elves do what I tell them, but I don't know if they report to either of my parents about my movements or if and when I have someone over, and I doubt that they would tell me if I asked them." Pansy had assumed that this plan business was all for show, that Potter and a couple of Weasleys would just wear disguises and storm the place. So she was pleasantly surprised to have to think about that a little.

This did present a bit of a pickle, and Bill turned to Slughorn:

"Horace, I believe we'll be needing some Polyjuice Potion, so that we can masquerade as Pansy's friends. Then the elves won't have anything to talk about."

"I have some in stock, enough for our purposes." Slughorn too had taken a few seconds to come up with that answer, but he appeared confident in it nonetheless.

"Great. Pansy, please come up with hair samples of your friends. I suppose it's too much to hope for that three of them are men."

"A bit too much yes, I can get one from Draco, but that's about it. How many do you need?"

"As many as you can come up with, but we won't do it this week, or even next probably. Plan on it being eight days before the wedding, if only so we can get a lay of the land. Now talk to us about security spells on the house."

"There really aren't that many beyond what's on a normal house, my family has never been as prominent on the 'dark' side as the Malfoys or the Notts. The floo is very restricted, you can guess which homes are authorized, and the anti-Apparition wards go for about 400 meters in every direction around the house. Muggle-repelling Charms of course, and certain rooms in the house are accessible to my parents only."

"Why's that? What's in there?" Bill was trying to remember if Narcissa, 'under the influence', had mentioned something similar at Malfoy Manor.

"I'm assuming our family histories and papers, bank records, that sort of thing. The two rooms are right here." She pointed to a pair of connecting rooms on the northwest corner of the second floor, Parkinson Manor was a three story house.

"Are the rooms worth breaking into?"

"I guess, probably. But I have to think that they're loaded with security spells and stuff like that, Anson and I can't get in there without some complicated Charms being performed, unless they die. I mean, they can't even escort us in with them."

That brought up something that Harry and Bill had talked about, but were loathe to bring up before now. But Harry wanted to test Pansy a bit, given those stares. She wasn't doing it much now, not with this crowd, but Harry was just waiting. Until then:

"Speaking of them dying, is that something you're after in all this?"

The two siblings looked at each other for a moment with raised eyebrows, which clued the assembled folk that this had been talked about between them. Anson answered.

"We would rather you didn't, but if there's no other choice, we won't challenge whomever does it to any duels or anything." A nice bit of verbal, and ethical, gymnastics.

"Duly noted. Are either of you willing to be outed for this? Pansy, would you openly switch sides if that was the only way to prevent this wedding?"

Another shared look, with the brother answering again:

"As a last resort, yes. But somebody here needs to provide us with employment if that happens."

"He's right, our names will be anathema for anyone on our parents' side of the political line, so we would be the definition of unemployable to them."

That was something that Bill and Harry had thought about, but not really come up with a good answer for. Both WWW and The Quibbler were two person operations currently, and Harry never really thought that Puddlemere or Hogwarts, his own employers, were options here either. It was a very practical problem, and surprisingly Giles Keenan spoke up.

"Are you willing to work in the muggle world? If so, arrangements can be made through Gringott's."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me Anson. Gringott's puts people in sensitive positions in the muggle world all over the globe, it's their way of keeping tabs. Between Bill, Fleur, and I, we have enough influence with the goblins that we can get you in. If you're willing. This is not a catch all offer mind you, things would have to go very wrong for it to be implemented."

Both Parkinsons knew that Gringotts took care of talented employees. They looked at the Muggle Studies teacher, and nodded in unison.

"Excellent, I'll start the approval process tomorrow."

Bill looked at his fellow bank employee, it was assumed that Keenan was still on the payroll with Hogwarts as his assignment, with a new respect. Now he understood why Harry had gravitated toward this man as a friend lately.

"Thanks Giles. Now everyone take 30 minutes and look over the house plans. Pansy, how many guests are expected?"

"About 100, give or take."

Bill looked over the plans, the place would just barely fit that many on the main floor, the weather was such that an outdoor wedding would be a bit dicey. He waved at everyone to do their looking over, while motioning for Harry and the Parkinsons to join him in the study. Once there:

"Harry, first thoughts?"

"How closely are invitations going to be looked at?"

"Not closely at all, since one of the three of us, my parents and I, have to escort people into the house."

"I'm guessing that one of us posing as one of your friends would pass scrutiny."

"True, but it might be better to bring you in earlier in the day, when they're busy with other things, they probably know by sight everyone on the guest list. How many of those coming will be women?"

Harry and Bill shared a glance, and the older man answered:

"One at least, two at the most." Fleur being the first, Luna being the second. It looked like Luna might be coming along after all.

"Your wife will be one I suppose. Does polyjuice work with her?"

"It does, but for less time, or so we've discovered, the Veela blood burns through the potion. One dose would last you or me an hour, for her it's half that time." They had figured this out in the early days of the new Order, on a whim more than anything. Fleur had grumbled about the taste, but had willingly swilled it down, finding it odd to look like Hermione for 30 minutes.

"Good thing you checked, you people are more thorough than the other side gives you credit for."

"I'm sure we're a lot more thorough than they give us credit for. Tell me, does Draco love you?" Harry decided to get this in now, out of the view of most people.

Pansy laughed cynically, and a bit bitterly.

"He doesn't know the meaning of the word, are you crazy? I'm politically and socially acceptable, that's it. I doubt he's actually considered his alternatives in years."

"So all of this is not going to devastate him? You two not getting married?"

"Who can say, as long as it can't be pinned to him in any way, he might not mind. Don't get any ideas about getting him in on this though. Remember, I don't want this, he just wouldn't be bothered much if it didn't happen."

Harry could all to easily believe this, but carried on with his queries.

"What role are you to have in The True Voice once you're married?"

"Probably the same, be your shadows. We're to live in Malfoy Manor, but don't get any ideas of using me as your inside person there, I will not go through with the wedding to facilitate that."

"Now, now, don't get so testy Pansy, I was thinking nothing of the kind." Harry liked the look on her face though, he was going to have to do this more often, keep her on her toes.

"Sure you weren't. Is the other person who might be coming along Granger?"

"Why do you ask?" His threat antennae were going up, as they always did when any Parkinson mentioned Hermione.

"I'm curious is all, remember, it's not like I can tell anyone, this being Order business and all Potter."

"It might be Hermione, it might not be, that's still to be determined." A total lie, but Bill didn't give it away after Harry threw it out there.

"Don't bring her in there Potter, it's not worth the risk. Yeah they've laid off her in The True Voice, but she's very high on their shit list, very high. If you really believe that she's one of the best fighters in your group and that you can't go there without her, fine. But otherwise I would leave her in the reserves for this match."

This statement had the effect of throwing Harry for a loop, as he had been assuming that she would want the opposite. Or was reverse psychology in play here?

"Tell me something Pansy, what's their end game here? What is their pie in the sky result? My death? My humiliation and emigration?"

"I don't know, and I've asked that same question more than once. I have to assume it's your humiliation followed by your very public death, but that's just my best guess. Whenever I ask Draco just smirks and changes the subject. Anson?"

"The same. If they wanted you dead it would have happened by now, but death plus the ruination of your ideals and reputation? Yes, I can see that. They won't want you emigrating though, scratch that from your list. They would always be afraid that you would come back someday."

The four of them, after a few more jibs and jabs, went back to the others. Harry and Bill made a point of getting with Soren Bender, who didn't have any big ideas right away, but threw out a few pointers for general use, including this one:

"Let's say it's the six of you in there, there should be another force of us on the outside, just in case things go really bad and you need to be rescued."

Bill had thought of that, but there was one thing:

"Will another half dozen really make a difference against 100 people though?"

"It can if they respond really quickly. Hermione told me once about those coins that the DA used a few years ago, I suggest that you retrieve them from wherever you stashed them."

All of the Hogwarts teachers had some ideas, but collectively they agreed that it should go relatively smoothly if the Parkinson siblings were fully onboard. Getting into the house and getting out were going to be the big problems. Where to hold Lucius was also gotten into, 12 was a bit obvious, as was The Burrow and Bill's cottage. Harry waited until the Parkinsons had left before broaching his idea.

"I have an idea of where to hold Lucius, it's foolproof and he can't escape or be rescued. But I don't know if certain people here will like it."

He gave them a few seconds to try to guess, and blurt something out, but no one took the bait, though they all looked interested.

"I'm talking about The Chamber of Secrets. I'm the only one who can open the door to it, and there's plenty of room. Kingsley or whomever couldn't get in even if they thought of it." It was also one of the two rooms in Hogwarts, the Room of Requirement being the other, that weren't on the Marauder's Map.

Everyone had thoughtful looks on their faces, except for those that didn't know what the heck he was talking about. After a quick explanation by Harry, Flitwick had a question.

"Can you still speak Parsletongue though? Might it not have gone away when Voldemort died?"

Harry took a deep breath:

"I can, I've practiced."

It was said in Parsletongue, and succeeded in giving a shudder to half the room.

"So you see, we have our hiding place, if Minerva is willing to house him."

Everyone looked at McG, who couldn't think of a good reason to say no, so she didn't.

"That would be fine, as long as no one sees you transporting him in and out."

"Oh that won't be a problem."

Later on as people were trickling out, Arthur found Harry, though for once they did not talk about Molly.

"When is your next meeting with Kingsley?"

"Beats me, they're not a regularly scheduled thing. Why?"

"I'm wondering if perhaps we should make an effort to split him off from Robards. I don't know if it would work, but doesn't he at least deserve the offer? He did a lot for our side back in the Voldemort days."

"Why ask me like this? Why not bring it up in front of the group?" He thought that Arthur would have a lot more luck appealing to the older members, while the younger members might not be as willing to fight about it.

"Because of the group, you're the one arguably that's the closest to him, the only one who could make that kind of approach. So if you were against it, it would be pointless to have the others talk about it."

Harry could appreciate the logic and practicality of that argument, and he smiled at Arthur.

"Interesting, but here's my problem with making that effort: What could we possibly offer Kingsley that would top being heir apparent to being Minister? He's next in line and he knows it, I could offer him 2/3 of my vault right now in exchange for no shot at Minister and he would turn me down flat." Harry would have taken the offer in a heartbeat, but he had come to believe the opposite of his old friend Kingsley.

"True, and I did think about that. But I just thought that he deserves the chance."

"I agree that in a perfect world he does, but if I go to him this week or next, it'll just tip him off that we have something major going on. In fact I'm going to try to avoid him if I can, this wedding will be a major target for our side, if you think about it. He might assume that we're going to hit it."

"I just can't see Kingsley as helping the Malfoys."

"I can't either, and I'm sure he doesn't see it that way, if he even knows what's going on. He's helping The Minister, a man that he respects. That's our problem, one of them, like we've been saying all along. We can't do this publicly, since Robards isn't some fool like Fudge, the public won't buy it."

"Well I had to ask, and I can't refute anything you're saying."

"I know what you're talking about Arthur, we owe Kingsley, for what went on in the last war. And if Robards is dirty and Kingsley doesn't know what's going on? Well maybe he can get his wish to be Minister after all." He was pleased at Arthur's methods here, he knew that both of them were tired of fighting with the other, but he was happy that at least Arthur was thinking about the future.

"As our puppet?"

"Bill's not old enough, I don't want McGonagall anywhere near it, and can you honestly say that the job wouldn't drive you crazy inside a month?"

"A couple of weeks at most."

"Maybe Flitwick, that might be an idea. What do you think about that?"

Arthur opened his mouth to object, and then closed it immediately. Flitwick was wildly popular, and practically everyone in magical Britain under the age of 70 had had him as a teacher back in their youth. He was known to be incorruptible, competent, and probably the least objectionable person on their side of the fence.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Flitwick had been among the first to leave the meeting after it's conclusion, there was a Prefect's meeting after dinner, and as Deputy, he was expected to attend. Headmistress McG and Gryffindor Head Keenan had gone with him, though Bender and Slughorn were still around.

"Oh no, of course not. He and I don't have that kind of rapport, though we get along. Would you do it?" Harry thought that this might be a painless way of keeping Arthur active in Order affairs without giving him any decision making duties.

"You don't think Bill or one of the others?"

"You're the closest he has here to a contemporary, not counting McGonagall or Horace. Think about it, and after the wedding, we can figure out the timing and all that. If Robards is dirty of course, and I would love it if he wasn't."

"That's the problem isn't it Harry? What if he's not?"

"If Lucius is the head of The True Voice in reality? Then he's history, and they'll be in a bit of chaos until they regroup. If he's working for someone else, some outside faction that we know nothing about? Then we'll know that too. Look, I'd rather it be Lucius on his own, that's my best case thing here. But better to know than not to know, I kind of wish the wedding was next week, so we could get it over with."

It was not until later on, when Harry and Charlie were playing a game of air hockey in the game room, that the red haired one said what more than a few of them must have been thinking:

"Harry, what if it isn't Robards behind Malfoy, but someone a lot more powerful?"

"Such as?" Who was more powerful than The Minister?

"Gringott's."

That had occurred to Harry, though he had never brought it up with Bill.

"Then we're all screwed, and might as well put our wands to our heads and scream the Killing Curse."

"Very funny."

"If only I was kidding."

Harry and Oliver would skip any questioning of Narcissa the next day during her Teddy visit, doing their best to calm her down about any wedding worries. Indeed they didn't even bring it up, though Harry was wondering if he was going to be invited. Pansy had told him that the Malfoys were handling most of the invites, and they were due to go out sometime this week. This one he didn't bet with Keenan on, since he wasn't sure what he wanted to happen.

As it happened, Harry did get an invitation to the Malfoy/Parkinson wedding on Thursday. There was no special note on it, just the time and place, addressed to Harry Potter and Guest. It came to the shop, and while George hadn't seen too many wedding invites over the years, he hadn't needed to open this one to tell what it was. He brought it home with him that night, and the denizens of 12, sans a working late Neville, talked about it as they ate dinner.

"You're not seriously thinking about accepting are you Harry?" George had noted that his friend had not said much about the invitation.

"Not seriously, no. But if there was a way we could work it into the plan. I mean it would get two of us in there without subterfuge."

Charlie sat up straight, like something had clicked in his mind.

"Hang on a minute here. We've been talking about sneaking four of us in early in the day to avoid the parents. Why can't we just have Harry and Fleur use their invites and go in past Pansy?" Pansy had explained to them that all three Parkinson residents would be greeting the guests as they came in, followed by cocktails and finger foods while Pansy got dressed. Anson's role was unclear, so he was not an option.

"How is that better than sneaking in though? The entrance is always going to be the most dangerous time in the assault." Ron was still hammering at Harry every night to be let in on it, for reasons that he would not fully explain.

They went on like this for a little bit, before Hermione, while finding it a bit amusing at first, finally put a stop to it.

"Honestly, you people. Harry is not going to accept that invite. If anything happens to Lucius while Harry is supposedly there, Harry will be looked at much more closely by The Ministry. It would give Robards, if he's dirty, the only excuse he would need to arrest Harry or force him into hiding."

Harry had come to the same conclusion, but he liked to see Ron and Charlie arguing, it was very brotherly the way they did it, with fervor but a total lack of hostility. It might have helped that the two of them barely knew each other.

"She's right guys, as usual." He stuck his tongue out at her, and had a chip thrown at him in response.

"Now that's the Harry and Hermione we always remembered, her telling him what to do and him doing it." George said that more for Ron's benefit than anything, wanting to see how his baby brother would react.

But if Ron saw it as bait, he didn't say anything, he just laughed along with the rest of them.

"Funny, George. Your rent is tripled by the way."

"I don't pay rent." Babysitting was his rent payment.

"Don't make me re-think that there buddy."

Not going to happen though, the last place Harry wanted Teddy was in muggle daycare. It was one thing when Teddy was living with his grandmother, who rarely used magic, and almost never around him. But it was another when the little lad was living in a house full of Wizards, and a Witch, and saw wands all the time. Harry didn't need his chatty little godson to start gabbing. How Teddy would explain Kreacher alone gave Harry the giggles whenever he thought about it. But therein also lay a problem:

Where was Teddy going to make friends his age, if not amongst the muggles? Some discreet checking by Arthur, on Harry's behalf months ago, had shown that the Teddy's birth year, the year before this one of course, had seen the lowest magical birthrate in the 20th century, even lower than the year that had produced Harry, Neville, and Ron. The war was a major factor, but the propensity for magical couples to just have one child was growing. Harry often wondered if natural selection was deliberately winnowing down the magical population. Other countries were similar, they all had their Voldemort-type moments at various times. That's one reason Harry was so contemptuous of the True Voice platform in that regard. If not for muggleborns, Hogwarts would be down to a couple dozen students 20 years from now.

But it was an issue, playmates his own age for Teddy, and Harry and Hermione were currently at a loss of what to do about it. Teddy didn't seem to mind obviously, as he always had someone around to play with him, but it was going to come into play more and more as the months and years progressed.

Friday, November 7, 1999

Office of the Flying Instructor, Hogwarts

8:00 pm

While Harry had kept from McG the fact that Narcissa Malfoy was visiting the castle every Monday, he felt obligated to inform her about Pansy's activities with the Slytherins, given that it was Hogwarts' students she was politicking. McG's reaction was predictably outraged at first, until Harry started reasoning with her.

"Look, she'll never speak to them in person unless I'm there, and even then I'm not alone. She doesn't know that, but I'm not. Anything she does by owl she could have done without us knowing about it anyway. It's a no lose kind of deal for us."

"You trust her not to betray us? I find it hard to fathom that you're trusting her at all Harry." McGonagall had no problem with the Parkinson alliance in theory, but her memories of the two siblings as students were still a bit too vivid.

"Why? Because she's Slytherin? Or because she's hated me all these years?"

"The latter more than the former, but still, both."

"Every society, at some point, finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with it's own values. I'm sure I didn't get the wording right, but it's from Golda Meir. Do you know who she is?"

"I do." She had been the Prime Minister of Israel after the Munich attack, McG knew her muggle history.

"I read that in a book about a week before the first issue of The True Voice, and it's been rattling around in my head ever since. It's all about dealing with…..well not the devil, but people whose moral compasses are a bit looser than ours. The Order isn't a society of course, but we represent a large portion of ours. Well not even large, if you think about, but we're the people who care the most. Just like the Malfoys and their people. They don't represent the totality of their side, but they're the ones who are willing to fight for what they believe in."

"You almost sound as if you respect them."

"I almost could possibly, except for one thing."

"And that is?

"Andromeda. That broke the rules."

"Yes Harry, yes it did. Well go ahead and do what you need to do with Pansy Parkinson and her Slytherin meetings, and I appreciate how thorough you are with all that."

"Thank you, I'll continue to give you reports after every meeting."

"That's good. I'll just be glad when this whole business is over with, again. We need a fallow time in our country Harry, some peace so that everyone can regroup."

With that, she sent Harry on his way, wondering at the changes in him over this last year and a half. She agreed with Hermione that this reading phase of Harry's life was long overdue, though she didn't blame Ron specifically, Hermione and McG had an unspoken agreement not to talk about Harry to each other. In her heart of hearts, she blamed Dumbledore, even if she would never admit that to anyone out loud. The man had sent Harry into battle so unprepared, with a life that was so unlived. It was clear that the young man had heretofore untapped mental gifts, and her longtime mentor and friend had never really attempted to find them out. Maybe this crisis was what was needed to bring them out.

This night's Slytherin meeting would be held in the Runes classroom, there was only one, and was another of Harry's seemingly last minute schedule changes. Each of the Slytherins from before had been instructed to bring a friend who was of a like mind. These eight would be the leadership in Pansy's new organization. The idea was twofold: The first was to blunt any recruitment by the Malfoys within the current members of Slytherin; The second was to make a new sort of True Voice for the future, one that did not involve assassinations or train attacks, but would be a legitimate force in magical society. Pansy Parkinson, abetted by her brother and an increasingly hip to it Harry, saw herself as the leader. Get them young, she had read, and she was going to do it too. She had seen how the DA had gone, how Harry had all but built up his own personality cult within Gryffindor and parts of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. She couldn't be that broad, but then again, she was only 20 years old. She had time.

Harry and Oliver, both under Disillusionment along with Natalie, couldn't help but admire the slickness of the presentation, and how seemingly logical it all sounded. It made perfect sense, and later that night at dinner the two teammates would question each other on why someone hadn't tried that in Slytherin a long time ago. Slytherin was not the most united House, that was arguably Gryffindor, nor were they even the most politically chaotic, that was Ravenclaw by all accounts. What Slytherin was, was the most stereotyped. If you said that you were a Slytherin, that seemed to say and imply more about you than if you said you were a member or alum of any of the others.

Once the Slytherin eight were gone, Harry started whistling God Save the Queen which was Natalie's clue to leave as well. He liked his young protégé, but didn't want her to hear anymore than she had to.

"Again, very nicely done." As genuine a compliment as Harry had ever paid her.

"Am I earning your respect yet?

"You are, though I can't imagine that you're doing it for that." He sure hoped not.

"It's one reason. I want you to remember me as someone who's useful when you're Minister a couple of decades from now."

"Not you too, I get enough of that from certain other people." George for one, and even Luna had mentioned it a couple of times.

"Just watch Potter, you'll go for it if Bill Weasley doesn't. You will believe that you need to do it, to keep the peace. It's what Dumbledore should have done, but he was too lazy."

"What did you people really think of Dumbledore? Leave aside that he was Voldemort's enemy and all that, but what was the Slytherin view of him as Headmaster?" Harry had long been curious about this, but had never thought to ask her about it when they were in the same room, until now.

"He was seen as a harmless old fool, who kept the train on the tracks, but little more. The really hardcore kids in our House pretended like he was some great threat, but he was more your protector than anything. I mean, it was hard to hate him, since he let us do whatever we wanted, and Snape had such a free hand to do as he pleased."

"Whose side did you think Snape was on?"

"Ours, he was very convincing. Did he really hate your guts?"

"He didn't hate me, specifically. But he hated my father, and I was proof that my mother had loved my father and not him. I was the child that should have been his."

"I can't see you with that sneer though."

"If I had had 20 years to practice it, I could pull it off."

"So how is the big plan coming?"

"It's crystallizing, we'll do a penultimate draft of it Sunday, then the final one the week after. That will give us two weeks to rehearse it."

"Are you really going to kill him?"

"It'll probably come to that, yes."

"Murdering a prisoner, that wouldn't be cricket now would it?" Pansy had no trouble with the idea of killing her putative father-in-law though, she just wanted to lightly taunt Harry about it.

"I prefer to think of it as his justified execution. Now here's a question for you: Have you really thought about how you're going to play this with the marriage over? That's what I want you and your brother to contemplate over the next three weeks. Because unless you plan to disappear, you'll be looked at very closely by Yaxley or whomever takes over."

"I thought that the whole point of the Gringott's thing was to let us hide for a bit?"

"That's only if things go very wrong. We're betting that they won't. But have some ideas in place if they do, go out into muggle London or Edinburgh and get acclimated."

"Oh yeah, like we wouldn't stand out in Edinburgh, with our accents." The Parkinsons were from Cornwall, and sounded like it.

"Oh the horror, learning a new accent, it's not that hard you know. Besides, this isn't the 13th century and Edward I, they're used to us by now." While Welsh/English himself, Harry still had his Surrey accent from childhood.

"If you say so, but it's not a bad idea."

"Thanks, now we'd better get going. Go ahead and use my office to floo back, I have some things to take care of here in the castle before I go."

"One more thing: Are you going to take the Defense job?"

"We have a Defense teacher, you'll be seeing her every Sunday."

"McGonagall would let her go in a second to get you, and you know it."

Harry mentally sighed, as he realized that his tacit arrangement with McGonagall was now more or less public knowledge. He still didn't know the answer to that himself, though he had six more months to think about it. He chose to tell some of the truth, but at the same time mask his real reasoning.

"Right now I'm funding a rather large household, and I need my Quidditch salary and benefits to do it." Harry did have a rather large vault, but wanted to live within his salary for the time being, to teach himself some budgeting lessons.

"So it's all about the money."

"Teddy goes through a lot of clothes you know. Now scoot, I have to go see Flitwick."

Once she was gone, Harry gave Oliver the signal to reappear.

"You were right Harry, she's good."

"Is she too good, that's my question. Are we getting rid of Lucius and his boys only to sponsor his replacement?"

"That's the rub, I agree. But she can't get to any kind of position of power without our help, so we can be an influence there. And she's preaching nonviolence." Oliver had never been remotely interested in politics until Harry had drawn him into his inner circle, but he was rather liking it.

"That's the only reason I'm letting this go on."

"And Pansy? She didn't give you the hardcore stare like the last time you mentioned, but she definitely enjoyed you being there with her, seemingly alone."

Harry had noticed this too, he had the feeling that Pansy thought that she was wearing him down. He had to admit that she was in the very narrow sense of him respecting her intellect, he was all the way there in that regard. But he just could not imagine trading Hermione for Pansy.

"Well it's a good thing that we'll never be alone here, technically. She has to assume some kind of surveillance though, she's proven that she's not an idiot." He started walking toward the door, and peeked around it, doing a scan to make sure that no one was waiting for them. No one was, much to Harry's relief, he didn't want this very useful ploy to be exposed.

"That was a nice shot about the Scots being used to you lot by now." Oliver, a Scot himself, was now grinning.

"It's your influence on me mate, come on, let's go eat, I'm starving."

Sunday, November 9, 1999

Kenmare Memorial Pitch

3:15 pm

It had been a reasonably short affair, less than an hour, but Puddlemere's 230-60 win over Kenmare Kestrels had been a decidedly violent affair, the next day's Daily Prophet would claim that it had the most penalties per minute of any match in the current season. The Kestrels had no decent Chasers, a good Keeper, and a second string Seeker, as their first stringer had discovered three weeks before that she was pregnant, and had refused to get in the air since. All this added up to a shift in playing philosophy for the Kestrels, whereby they tried to play as roughly as possible while still keeping the minimum number of flyers in the air. Their Beaters were deadly accurate, and between that and all the fouling, Puddlemere was down to one reserve Chaser, and Charlie, at the end of the game, and both had their brooms within reach at the end. But the Snitch didn't play possum this time, and Harry got in short enough order to prevent any fatalities, though all eight Puddlemere goals had been scored on penalty shots.

Harry's shower was the quickest of all Puddlemere folk who had played, so he was out of the locker room first, only to be met by a familiar face.

"Why hello Kingsley, I was just saying to the gang at breakfast that it's been ages since I've seen you."

"It's always a pleasure Harry, is there someplace we can go to have a brief chat?"

End Chapter


	30. Kingsley

Author's Note: Remember that this story takes place in 1999, and while I'm making Harry a Chelsea football fan, it is not a bandwagon situation. Roman Abramovitch had not bought the team at that point and spent billions importing players, not that there's anything wrong with that. They were just good old Chelsea back then.

Sunday, November 9, 1999, continued

Kenmare Memorial Pitch

3:16 pm

"Is there someplace we can go to have a brief chat?" Kingsley was telling Harry to chat with him, not asking him, but he still phrased it the latter way.

"I'm sure we can think of something, but tongues will be wagging at your very public approach to me here." Harry's tone was equal to the task, he was not thrilled at Kingsley's methods here.

"No harm in people knowing that we talk Harry, we're old friends aren't we?"

"Fine then, if you want it that way. If it's to be public, let it be all the way public. Let's walk out into the middle of the Pitch here and talk. We'll stay within sight of your lackeys, and my friends, but out of hearing. Deal?"

"Deal, let's go."

He very pointedly walked ahead of Harry, who was hard pressed not to laugh at the audacity of it. Of course there were still about 40 people still around to watch this, so Kingsley must have felt safe. Harry followed him, safe in the knowledge that he was probably not going to be arrested. He wasn't sure what the Azkaban sentence would be for conspiracy to kidnap, not to mention all of the Imperious use and Veritaserum questioning that they had been doing would merit, but he felt sure it would be heavy.

Once they were about 30 meters away from anyone, Harry began.

"You rang?" He softened the crack with a smile.

"I have a copy of the Malfoy guest list, imagine my surprise when your name appeared on it." He didn't look surprised now though.

"Not a funny surprise, or you wouldn't be here."

"You were amused by it?"

"I got a nice chuckle, sure. Shall I save you the trouble of asking the question?" Harry had gotten a nice chuckle out of it.

"Please do."

"I sent an post office owl back yesterday, with my regrets. There was no Howler attached, but I don't intend to get them a gift either." He sounded mock regretful.

"I'm glad to hear that you refused the invitation."

"You thought there was a chance in hell that I would show up there? Mingle in a room full of people who either want me dead or like Gilderoy Lockhart?" He took a secret pleasure in stealing that line from Narcissa Malfoy. If the other man only knew.

"I was just making sure that you wouldn't try a bold gesture that might get someone into trouble." His face and tone of voice left no doubt whom he thought would get into said trouble.

"Are you going to have a presence there? Surely Robards was invited? He is Minister of Magic after all."

"No, as a matter of fact, he was not. He's not terribly popular with them as you well know."

"And I am?" Pansy had told him that Robards was not on the list, but he thought that he was selling it well.

"There was also no chance that he would attend if invited, whereas they might have thought that you would see it as a challenge and show up."

"Oh please, I restrict my challenges to Snitch catching and Teddy wrangling, and you know it. Now tell me what you're really doing here, you could have done this at Hogwarts or through Neville. What's going on?" Just a shot in the dark, he had no trouble believing that Kingsley would troop all the way out here to warn him about not going to the wedding, and making a public point about it to boot.

"Do you still have suspicions of a certain person?"

Now Harry's heart took a leap for a brief moment, but he still assumed that his erstwhile friend was just doing some friendly fishing.

"We're talking about your boss again I take it. No Kingsley, I never had what you could call 'suspicions' about him, his facts just fit certain scenarios. His walking tour was a great success in Diagon Alley, even George was impressed, and he hates politicians." Both true, to a degree.

"He is wondering when your next Order report will be coming."

"There's nothing to report, there's been no issue of their newspaper in the last couple of weeks, and no violence. I'm sure they're just waiting for Draco to marry Parkinson, have her conceive, and then the Malfoy dynasty will be assured. Then they'll strike somewhere and someone will respond." Harry tried to sound bored with it all.

"You really think that they're waiting for the wedding?"

In actuality Harry did think this, so it was easy to sell.

"Beats me, you're the ones with the inside access, with the budget for espionage. That's only my theory, and I'll agree that it's an educated guess that's more educated than someone without skin in the game."

"I agree that your theory seems like the easiest explanation." And he did, even Kingsley didn't think that Lucius was doing his evil plans 24/7, the man did have to run his business and have something resembling a personal life.

Harry then made a split second decision to go on the attack.

"How is that you people don't have them penetrated by now? How many months has it been? And by the way, who designed that idiot plea agreement anyway? They should have been required to submit to weekly Veritaserum questioning, the drugs bought at their expense, in order to ensure that none of this ever happened again. And you people wonder why I don't want anything to do with our government? You dolts lost the peace! I bloody died defending our people from that maniac and his sycophants, and you people proceeded to bollocks up the aftermath!" Harry's voice rose with every sentence, and he was a tick's whisker away from screaming at his old friend by the end. And it was very real, the words anyway, even if the emotion was a bit staged.

Kingsley knew that there was no violence coming here, but he was still taken aback to see Harry come a bit unglued like he was. But being Kingsley, he remained calm.

"Mistakes were made Harry, and they continue to be, I agree. I wouldn't say the peace has been lost though."

"Oh yes it bloody well has been, Dumbledore died for nothing! For all his faults, and they were many, he was the greatest Wizard of our lifetimes, and he died for nothing. Not to mention everyone else. I can't wait to explain to Teddy why his parents died, and for what. Oh the cause was noble, sure enough, but are you people really going to let them die in vain?"

"You keep talking about 'you people' Harry, you're one of those people. You're a leading citizen of our society, it's most magically powerful, and possibly it's most charismatic. If you want the Ministry to change, then join us and do it."

"I'm not spending the next year doing an all day Defense Against the Dark Arts class and you damn well know it. It's one reason why I turned you down last time, it would be a waste of energy and time, and even if you cut me a deal to skip the Auror school, it would look really bad to all the rank and file who had to go through it themselves. Never mind that most of them can't say the name 'Voldemort' without shitting themselves, while I killed him, they would just bitch and moan about special treatment, and likely undermine me behind my back at every opportunity. No Kingsley, I want you people to deal with the Malfoys, it's what you're paid to do, it's your damn job. So do it."

This last part had been the end of Harry's bitter tirade, all of which he had meant, and the beginning of Harry Potter, amateur thespian, though he had meant what he said there too. He didn't want to lay it on too thick though.

"I don't know what to say Harry."

"Tell your boss that I'm not going to make a move on him unless he moves first on me. Tell him that I think he's doing a good job on the whole and that, other than this True Voice business, I have no complaints. Tell yourself to get going on the Malfoys, and to stop worrying about budgets and Amos Diggory, and to go after the real enemies here. I am not your enemy by the way, I'm your old comrade, and your friend."

That last bit was to calm any fears in Kingsley about Harry going for his wand, and they seemed to work.

"I know you are, and keep one thing in mind yourself. Just because we don't advertise what we're doing, does not mean we're doing nothing."

"I'll take your word for it. Are we done?"

"We're done."

Harry then did something totally on the spur of the moment, as they started walking back to the locker room area, where Kingsley's lackeys, and Hermione and Charlie, were waiting.

"Tell you what, come out with us next Saturday, with Oliver, Ron, Charlie, Giles and me. We're going to the Chelsea/Aston Villa football game, and maybe out to a pub afterward. Boys only, but totally innocent. We're trying to convert Ron to football, at least he pronounces it correctly now." Harry, a new Chelsea fan, and Ron had a wager already on the game. Of course Ron was only betting on Aston Villa because he dug the name.

Kingsley was now taken totally aback.

"Well sure, I don't have anything going on that day besides a mound of paperwork, thank you." He thought it an eclectic bunch of friends as well, though his Harry shadows had told him about the friendship between Harry and Keenan. And he could use a day to himself, away from the office and the various pressures attached to it..

"Excellent, I'll owl you with what time, I can't remember what time the game starts off the top of my head." Totally true, Harry's head for what time things started was not the greatest.

"Sounds good. I'll see you Saturday then."

They shook hands, and parted ways once they got back to everyone else. Kingsley went back to The Ministry, while Harry and company flooed back to 12, where he gave a full report.

"What was the deal with him coming with us on Saturday? Not that I mind, should be a fun time no matter what." Charlie knew that Harry had some kind of plan going on, but couldn't figure what it was.

"What's the saying? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer? I'm not saying he's the latter, but I think he's a lot less likely to think we're plotting against him if he's watching a football match with us. Besides, he's not a bad guy." And Harry was always amused to watch magicals interact with muggles in a crowded environment. It had been great fun with Ron, and Harry doubted that Kingsley had gotten to see many football games while moonlighting as John Major's gofer a few years back.

Back at The Ministry, Kingsley gave a full report to Minister Gawain Robards, who was in the office pretty much every day, not having much of a home life. After Kingsley's blow by blow account:

"So what's your assessment?"

"I don't think much has changed Gawain, he's only going to move against the Malfoys if we don't do it first, once there's another attack that is. That will be the final straw, so to speak, the next attack. I don't think that he and Bill Weasley will let another one slide."

"You agree with his wedding theory? Oh I know what you told him, but do you really think that he's right?"

"I think it's as good an explanation as any, like I told him."

"I like how he put that, do we have them 'penetrated' by now. Do you think he does?"

"If I were a gambling man, I would say no, if only because there is no one currently in The Order that could really do an approach to the other side. Slughorn is the only Slytherin, to my knowledge, and he is well known to be a Potter supporter and friend." Horace Slughorn had more Ministry Surveillance Charms on his office and living quarters than any other Hogwarts professor, not that he knew about it. This was due to him being the Head of House for Slytherin, as well as having so many connections, and Kingsley and Robards wanted to know about as many of those connections as possible.

"I'm surprised that Potter isn't going to the wedding."

"Why's that?"

"All he would have to do is publicize the invitation, perhaps show it to a reporter from The Daily Prophet or even Lovegood from The Quibbler, and he would be completely safe at that wedding, Lucius and his people would never dare lay a finger on him. Those people know the thin ice that they're skating on at present."

"You think that maybe Harry thought about that, and was lying to me?"

"He could always say that he changed his mind at the last moment, but I doubt he will, not after so blatantly telling you that he said no and had no intention of going. No, he won't want to be seen as the antagonist here, especially for something as benign as a wedding. Potter's game now is to be as clean as possible, for when he starts his media war against the Malfoys. Sooner or later he'll make his peace with The Daily Prophet, and all hell will break loose." He didn't sound like he minded that prospect at all.

"Would you like me to have one or two of our people infiltrate the wedding? It might present some intelligence opportunities, and the Parkinson home isn't as secure as Malfoy Manor."

"Get a plan together at least, it might be viable as an option. Are you really going to go on this social outing with them?"

"Sure, why not?" He was wondering if his boss was going to try and forbid him from going, that would generate an argument sure enough.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't, it's a good idea. Give you a chance to see Potter in a more relaxed manner. Pity the lad doesn't drink beer, it might loosen his tongue." Their shadowing of Harry's pub trips revealed that he only drank soft drinks when out and about, though he did still do his weekly wine tasting class, his only apparent alcoholic imbibing.

Kingsley got up, apparently the conference was over.

"I'd give quite a few galleons to see Harry drunk, just to see what he'd do. And that's me the private citizen talking, not the Head Auror."

"He's an interesting man, a worthy…….well, worthy whatever he is to us right now. One more question before you go."

"Shoot."

"The odds on Potter taking Bender's job next year." Bender's move to Hogwarts had been before Robards took over from the Provisional Minister, and he had not been happy about it. She would have been, at worst, Deputy Head Auror right now.

"Very low right now I'd say, but it depends. His contract in on file with the Department of Magical Games and Sport, and the bonus clauses for Snitch catching and team performance are quite high, and he's well on his way to meeting them. If he cares a lot about money, or even somewhat, then there's no way he leaves." Vault totals were not on record, and despite having some of his office people do some digging, Kingsley had no real idea of what Harry's net worth was, only what his Puddlemere contract called for, and his Hogwarts' stipend.

"Tell you what, start thinking about moving up a notch. Come January, make Bender an offer: Head Auror, with you becoming DMLE Head. We'll give Amos the Senior Undersecretary post if he wants it, his duties and yours won't change appreciably. I'd like Potter at Hogwarts if possible full-time, it'll keep him too busy to be interested in outside goings on."

While digging the idea of that kind of promotion and it's attendant salary increase, Kingsley thought that there was no way Harry would take the Defense job now, not with a small child at home. Hogwarts teaching positions were not conducive to a stable home life, at least not until children were in school. But he didn't say this, merely nodding and going on his way. He knew that his childless boss didn't understand the first thing about kids and raising them, and would merely brush off his objections. Kingsley went home to his wife and their dinner plans, while Robards went back to the paper pile on his desk.

Meanwhile, at The Order meeting Harry decided to skip the retelling of his Kingsley meeting, and simply show the thing via his brand new pensieve, purchased Friday afternoon. He still had Dumbledore's model locked away in his trunk, but Hermione had given up trying to get him to delve into it. She always got some version of:

"There's no hurry is there? Plenty of time."

Hermione was privately wondering if he was afraid of what he'd see, and there were many things in there that might do it.

But the new model was in it's first use, and the meeting played pretty well, as the assembled mass, minus the Parkinsons, analyzed what went on.

"He doesn't suspect anything, we're fine." That was Ron, simple as always.

"I think you were right to decline that invitation Harry, he was clearly hoping you would." Flitiwick.

But it was Luna who thought of the masterstroke.

"Harry, I think one of the boys should take some polyjuice on the wedding day and be 'you' for the day, very publicly. Not where Kingsley or someone can question the fake you, but at least the fake one can parade up and down the main avenue in Diagon Alley whilst all the wedding chaos is occurring."

The room went dead silent for a moment, and then the smiles began. Then they spread, very wide. Harry's was probably the biggest as he started laughing.

"All hail Luna Lovegood, that is genius."

Luna was beaming, she, very quietly, highly valued Harry's good opinion. It was nice to hear that he felt that she was good for more than just babysitting, he was always full of praise for how she was with Teddy.

"Thank you." She was blushing a bit at the attention, but she did like it when her talents were acknowledged.

"Oh no Luna, thank you. So Oliver or Neville, which of you is it going to be?" Harry wanted Ron and George to be at the wedding, even if it was only in the outside force.

The two young men looked at each other for a moment and shrugged, but Neville spoke first.

"I think it should be me, and Oliver and Katie should come with me. The three of you are known to do social things together, and it would not look the least bit out of place for you lot to be wandering around Diagon Alley." Neville had all but stopped socializing with Harry outside of 12, due to his irregular work schedule, and his burgeoning relationship with Lisa Turpin.

Oliver was nodding.

"Very true, and Katie and I can act as a kind of buffer. Besides, Neville knows you so well, and can answer most questions of Quidditch fans and all that."

Harry was in total agreement.

"That's a plan then, it's brilliant. Again, all hail Luna. Kingsley and Robards would never believe that I sat out a raid on the wedding, and it'll only be necessary if all hell breaks loose, and hopefully it won't."

Fleur then cleared her throat.

"Well then, if Luna does not mind me stealing her idea, we should do the same with Bill as well. Do not put our fake Harry and fake Bill together as they go about their days, but no one will believe that our side would attack a Malfoy event and have our leaders not there."

More general agreement, though it was a stickier thing on who would play Bill. Anyone could look like him, but it was the attitude and persona that was almost as important. Ultimately it was Neil Brunsden, husband of their Medi-Witch Rachel, who was pressed into service. He had only met Bill at Order meetings, but plans were quickly made for him to come over to Weasley Cottage for dinner and some getting to know Bill time.

The Parkinsons came by about 30 minutes later, but nothing was said to them about the Neville/Harry and Neil/Bill ruse. It was The Order's version of a mole hunt, and a way of seeing their Veritaserum questions had any holes in them. Bill, who did the majority of the questioning and wrote most of the scripts, could admit that he was only a gifted amateur at interrogation, and might miss some things.

The Parkinsons were only around for a little while though, as it was decided to wait another week to nail down the final details, just to make sure the Malfoys weren't going to try anything too smart, or too stupid.

Later on that night, as Harry and Hermione were getting into bed:

"Where are you going to want me during the assault Harry?" That talk was the next week, officially, in the Order meeting. But Hermione wanted to know now.

"Please stop calling it that Hermione, it's a snatch and grab, with any luck no one will even know that we're there." Harry and Keenan, only between themselves, had given the operation a 40 percent chance of going off without any major hitches. No bets though, they agreed, not on something like this.

"Fair enough, now please answer the question." She did take the point though.

"Make me." He smiled at her and raised his eyebrows.

She reached her hand out, and 'made him'.

"Okay, you've made me. I want you on the outside with the relief force, ready to come in if your beloved Harry fouls things up."

"But you won't, will you?" Her hand was not moving, motivating him to answer her truthfully.

"I know that the six of us will do what we've planned, and that Pansy and Anson will go along with it. What we can't rely on is Lucius and Draco to cooperate exactly as needed. They are the wildcards unfortunately." He was assuming that Ron and George would be involved in the main assault.

"I'm still wary about trusting Pansy and Anson, especially Pansy."

"Why?"

"Because she's after you, that's why." Harry had been honest with her about Pansy's stares, which was very good for their relationship because George had been warning her as well.

Harry's laughter surprised her, it was one level below guffawing.

"She wants The Boy Who Lived, the one who killed Voldemort and can give her power, be her facilitator into our circle and side of the conflict. She doesn't want me, the person, she doesn't even know me, and it's vaguely insulting that she thinks that her approach isn't rather obvious. That she actually believes that she has a chance of getting me is just sad. Trust me Hermione, there's not one aspect of you that I would trade for one aspect of her, let alone trade the entire package. I love you, I tolerate her." Harry knew full well that George was talking to Hermione, and he supposed that he couldn't blame him.

Hermione, a relative late bloomer in the looks department, was blushing in the dark about Harry's compliments.

"I love you too."

Hermione would admit, if only to herself, that she was very flattered that a man like Harry, who could theoretically date any single Witch that he wanted, would pick her, at least not before sowing whatever wild oats he might have. She had understood him and Ginny, but really felt that he was under a lot of pressure from Molly and Arthur, and even Dumbledore, to date 'within the group'. It was only after she had started dating Harry herself, had Hermione found out that Harry and Dumbledore had never once discussed his romantic life, and that Dumbledore was one of the last people Harry was willing to confide in on something like that.

"All those wasted years, that's my biggest regret."

"Wasted?"

"That we were only friends. It was that rag, The Daily Prophet. They get things wrong so often that I just…….well, when they made us a couple, did I resist because of that? It's very frustrating at times."

"Harry, we're only 19 and 20, it's not like we're in our 50's or something. We have years ahead of us together."

Hermione's mother, in a rather embarrassed manner, had questioned her daughter about her seemingly settled domesticity with Harry, and whether or not it was too soon. It was her first overt mention of her daughter living permanently at 12. Hermione had simply replied that she had found Mr. Right and was not going to question the timing, it was not like she had met Harry and shacked up with him inside of a month, it was a now eight year friendship.

"Together is right."

"Besides, there was always Ron to think of."

"Poor Ron, stuck with Lavender to talk to." Lavender did not come round on Sunday nights, because of Order meetings, but she spent about half the nights at 12. She was amazing with Teddy, almost on a Luna-ish level, and Harry was now reconciled to her semi-constant presence in his life and family.

"I think that they are more intellectually compatible with each other. I doubt either has ever cracked a book open for non-school related purposes."

"Now, now, don't let the claws come out." Harry did find it to be kind of funny when Hermione dissected Ron like that. It was funny only because they were shortcomings that she had been complaining about for years, not the cattiness of a former girlfriend. Besides, she was wrong, Ron had read at least three Quidditch related books that Harry could think of.

"I have nails, not claws, and Ron needs a hobby of some sort. Maybe getting him involved in football is the right thing now that I think about it. There are hundreds of teams for him to pick from, dozens of periodicals. A good way to spend his time, and a way for us not to hear about the Cannons so much."

That had slowed down after Puddlemere's whupping of them the previous month though, even if Harry, on Hermione's 'orders', had not laid it on too thick. There was still another game to be played come April though. Puddlemere would be fighting for the playoffs, while Chudley might be tanking for a chance at the number one pick in the draft. That strategy had not worked so well the previous year though, when they missed out on Harry by a single loss, their Seeker trying to keep her job and catching a Snitch too many.

"Who the heck are you and what did you do with Hermione? Football good for Ron?"

"Well I could give him the works of Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Tolkien, but he wouldn't get past the first page now would he?"

"I read in the Guardian that they're making films of Tolkien, I've been meaning to read those books. Sirius has a set somewhere around here, he mentioned it once when we were doxy spraying that one summer." They got to talking about books some more, all the while messing about, their own peculiar brand of foreplay. They were passionate quite a bit, but one cannot be passionate every night, so some nights are to be about books. Then passion.

Saturday, November, 15, 1999

Montialno's Italian Bistro

4:30 pm

The football match between Chelsea and Aston Villa was a big success for all involved, though the final score was a 3-3 tie. Harry and Giles explained to Ron that this was an offensive explosion, but they did it quietly enough so as not to attract too much attention. But Ron was into it, cheering as loudly as anyone, even without alcoholic enhancement. Harry and Charlie had made absolutely sure that he had one beer, and one beer only. Ron drunk was a fun sight to see, on the rare times that it happened, but he was prone to shoot his mouth off when he was, not something conducive to a muggle sporting event. Or being around muggles period for that matter.

Kingsley had informed Harry before the match that this was not the first football game that he had been to, but he could still count them all one hand and still have fingers left over. There was no talk of politics or wars during the match, and no muggles seemed to spy the six wands concealed on their persons.

Dinner was a different story however, as the lot of them swapped tales of Hogwarts past. Kingsley and Keenan, who had not overlapped at school, told some funny ones about pranks and such, and Charlie related a hilarious yarn about Bill, a guinea pig, and Snape, that almost cost the Weasley scion his position as Prefect way back when.

"I'm not saying that I set him up, I'm not saying that I didn't. But it was very funny watching Snape twitch around like that all through lunch." The table went up in laughter, as they all visualized Snape twitching.

That led Harry and Ron to press the older men about what Slughorn was like as a younger man, and they were kind of disappointed to learn that he hadn't really changed over the years, as Kingsley would explain.

"The man was all about his Slug Club and cultivating influence. But he was so obvious about it, and so amusing, that it was hard to take offense if you weren't chosen. He liked me because I was one of the few people of color in the school at the time, and that made me stand out. He had read somewhere about American muggle athletes and how black people performed better in many of their sports, so he thought right away that I would be a star Quidditch player because of that."

He got a load of the shocked faces around the table, but quickly dispelled them with a hearty laugh.

"Oh there was nothing racist about it, he just read something and stereotyped me. He was crushed when I didn't make the team my second year, he moped for a week. I think about that every time I see the man." He was smiling as he took a sip of his Newcastle, as it pleased him, the memory.

Harry, Ron, and Oliver were happy to learn that the McGonagall that they had experience with was pretty much the same one that had always been there. Kingsley assured them that she he always dressed in the same manner, and had the same prim visage whenever she was angry or happy. The lot of them spent quite a while indulging one of the favorite sports of Hogwarts students past and present:

Were Dumbledore and McG a couple back in the day?

Charlie was of the opinion that both of them were homosexual, and had gravitated toward each other as friends because of that.

"I'm telling you, it has to be that. Dumbledore never once had a public girlfriend, and there was never even any innuendo about him."

"Yeah, but wouldn't the Prophet have smeared him with it a couple of years ago when they were attacking him? Wouldn't Fudge and Umbridge have used it if there was even a hint?"

Charlie just shook his head in an older brotherly way at Harry.

"Harry, this isn't the muggle world, being gay does not have the negativity attached to it that it does there. It's considered perfectly normal, and you would be surprised how many prominent Wizards and Witches have been that way. And no, I am not, thank you very much."

Harry had not been about to ask that, feeling it was none of his business either way, he had just assumed that Charlie was rather more discreet about it than Bill, who had got married at the same age that Charlie was right now. But a sideways glance at Ron let him know that his longtime roommate was not so bashful. So Ron asked in a different way.

"So what do you do for dating on the Preserve?" He had always wondered at Charlie trading the life of a Quidditch god, which had been for Gryffindor, for the monkish life of a dragon handler and academic.

"You don't, by and large. We don't get many females of a young age working there, and the ones who do are wives or girlfriends of people already there. So either you date someone's family member long distance, or you find someone in Bucharest or one of the other cities where we go to socialize, we all speak some degree of Romanian. I've done both, and while neither is the situation of choice, working at the Preserve is a complex decision, and that's a factor."

"So basically you trade dating for more money?"

"Not exactly Ron, you trade ideal dating conditions for more money and a chance to do what you love for a career. I love what I do, honestly, I've never truly regretted the decision I made way back when. But trust me, if the Welsh Preserve were still active, I would be there in a heartbeat, but it's closed down." It had been closed down only three years before Charlie's Hogwarts graduation too, and he had been forced to look elsewhere for his future. It did not necessarily go along with the story that Bill and Fleur had told Harry and Hermione, about Charlie fleeing Britain and his parents while barely bothering to pack, though Harry chose not to try and call him on it.

That did start, however, a talk about dragons, Romania, and Charlie's culture shock of being back in Britain. Ron learned more about his second oldest brother in one meal than his parents had told him in years, while Kingsley, Giles, Oliver, and Harry were very interested now to visit Bucharest, though apparently learning Romanian was rather difficult. Charlie called himself fluent, but it had been over ten years of learning to get there.

Keenan was also a star of the somewhat lengthy dinner, telling what tales he was allowed to of Ladbrookes, the London bookmaker that Gringotts had seconded him to. He had some interesting stories about problems gamblers, and the occasional lucky ones, as well as the odd ones.

"It's true, you can place a bet on whether your unborn child will kick the winning goal in the finals of the World Cup 24 years from now, and they'll actually give you odds."

"You've got to be shitting us." Ron, who did not care to get involved in the Harry/Giles mini-bets, just couldn't believe it.

"I shit you not, and what's more, at least one bloke a week comes in to do it. They'll slap 100 pounds down on the counter and make their bet. Now mind you, it's only Englishmen that do it usually, since they have the strongest team among the four groups and usually qualify. But still, it really is like peeing your money away."

Harry thought it was hilarious though.

"I can see it now though, John Doe telling young Jack Doe when he turns 24 'You had to go and be a cricket player, don't you know I had 100 quid on you!?'"

Oliver had an even better one:

"Or 'how dare you cure that disease, you cost me money!'"

All in all it was a convivial night of friends, and there was so little talk of the present by Harry and Kingsley that neither got a true handle on the other. Harry pretty much got what he wanted from the invitation: A chance for him to see Kingsley letting his hair down a bit, if the older man in fact had hair. He wasn't looking for political insight really, but an opening for things to come. In a way he was doing what Arthur had asked him to do the a couple of weeks previous, which was to see if Kingsley could be approached. Harry wasn't doing it consciously, but he was doing it all the same.

Kingsley, for his own part, got very little political intelligence out of the gathering, though he had enjoyed himself. He assumed that the other men were under orders from Harry to keep quiet about Order things, and to not talk about the Malfoys. Indeed the word 'Malfoy' did not leave anyone's lips during the entire excursion, and more time was talking about the very dead Dumbledore and Snape than about The Ministry or any of it's current employees.

Kingsley would return home to his wife with a satisfied smile on his face, he would not make a report to Gawain Robards until the next afternoon. He didn't think anything had happened that was so urgent as to interrupt whatever solitary activity that his Minister was up to.

Sunday, November 16, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

5:00 pm

The Appleby Arrows, two games behind Puddlemere in the standings, did not present much of a challenge to Harry and his teammates. They went down, somewhat meekly, by a score of 400-100. The United Beaters still sucked, to use the exact term of Clive Fitzgerald, but he was saying it with less venom than in weeks previous. The Chasers were rounding into form, and Oliver had never played better. Harry caught the Snitch with a minimum of trouble, even though he was actually facing a first string, healthy, Seeker this week, the first in a few. Only two more games until the winter break began, and the last of those games was due to be played the day after the Malfoy/Parkinson wedding, and it's subplots.

This Order meeting was all about the planning of the kidnapping, so not only were the Parkinsons brought in from the beginning, they were fed too. Kreacher clearly recognized both of them, but made no remarks to anyone, other than a grunt when he was thanked for something. The other members were now comfortable with the presence of the two former Death Eaters in training, and idle chatter was the order of the day, pun intended, for the meal. The Parkinsons excepted, the Order had morphed into more than just a Ministry watchdog group, they were now more or less a group of friends. It was not what Harry had intended when he started things back up, but he was not disappointed. Bill, as usual, started things off.

"Okay then, time for the final plan to be worked out, and everyone to know their places. The inside team will be as follows: Harry, Fleur, George, Charlie, Anson, and myself. Pansy will be the shocked bride to be that can't believe that all of this is happening. The outside force, who will respond only if things seem hopeless inside will be: Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Soren, and Ron. They will be stationed just outside the anti-Apparition zone of the house, and will come a running if called for by our coins. Speaking of which, Hermione:"

Hermione handed out the specially made coins to all of the inside people, but hesitated when she got to Pansy.

"This cannot be transfigured and still work, will you be able to hide this on your person?" She sounded dubious about the prospect, her thoughts were confirmed by Pansy.

"Probably not, so best not to give it to me, we don't want to take any chances. I've had the final dress fitting, and this thing would definitely stand out."

"Fair enough. The coin needs to pressed twice right here, and all of the corresponding coins will glow bright red, for danger. Press it once, and it will glow a bright yellow, which will signal that everyone is ready to come out. The coins are personalized with the first letter of your first name, so we will know who is in danger, and who is ready to leave."

"Thanks Hermione. Those of you on the outside, keep the coins in your hand every second. Now, something to remember: No Unforgivables are to be used unless your life depends on it. Now I know that none of us would use Cruciatus, but I would rather no one at that wedding, which is after all full of people who hate us, wind up dead. Use Imperious if you feel you have no other choice, but otherwise Stupefy is the curse of the day. Those of you not involved in the mission, you are to go about your days unless told to otherwise ahead of time. Hogwarts people, maintain your daily routines. Harry:"

"All right then. The wedding is due to start at noon, with guests arriving as early as 10:00 am. Those of us on the inside are to arrive at the house no later than 8:00 am, those outside, at worst an hour later."

He was interrupted by Pansy coughing, and signaling that she wanted to say something.

"Yes, Pansy?"

"One question that we've all been ducking, and I think should be addressed today definitely and right now ideally: What are we going to do about Draco? I mean, is he to die? To be kidnapped right alongside his father? Left alone?"

End Chapter


	31. Some Nervous Jitters

Sunday, November 16, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:40 pm

"What are we going to do about Draco? I mean, is he to die? To be kidnapped right alongside his father? Left alone?"

A moment of quiet in the room, as Bill and Harry waited for the other to answer. That in and of itself told Pansy quite a bit. But she knew that she was not loved here, so she kept quiet until Harry wound up passing the buck back to her.

"What are you advocating?"

Pansy took a couple of seconds to compose her thoughts before she replied.

"I don't hate Draco Malfoy, I want that to be clear right now. I just don't want to marry him or be yoked to his future, that's where I come out here. That's why I'm in this room. Whatever you need to do to prevent that, I'll go along with. If that means death, so be it, but I'm not asking for it."

Harry thought that that was a nice dance around the issue, but it did say where she stood. So he returned the favor.

"I say we take him with us if we can, but unless he confesses under Veritaserum to something really heinous, we let him go with a memory wipe afterward." He thought Lucius' death, assuming it came to that, was about all that some of the Order members could take at this point.

"What if we can't take him with us?" Charlie thought that getting out with Lucius alone, without causing a ruckus, was asking enough.

Bill was with Harry though.

"Then Pansy comes with us. It has to be one or the other to prevent the wedding. If it's Pansy, then we mess with Lucius a little with Imperious, get him to repudiate the betrothal. Has the dowry changed hands yet?"

"Not until after the ceremony, our father isn't the most trusting sort."

"Then it's either Draco or you. Just make sure that you play your part if you stay behind. Don't drink anything that you're not sure about, and don't let on to your parents that you're anything but dismayed by the day's events, let alone that you knew something was going to happen."

"I'll do my part, don't worry about that." She sounded very confident that she could pull it off. After all, she had played double agent for weeks now, without her parents or betrothed suspecting a thing, that she knew about.

Anson Parkinson had remained relatively quiet during these meetings, as he let his sister take over more and more of the decision making in their little two person firm. He was still convinced that he had done the right thing though, with this alliance. He didn't like their plans for Draco though, the little bastard shouldn't be getting out of this scot-free. There might be an opportunity here, for some payback. He put his focus back on the others, he had practiced his zoned out look enough so that no one noticed it anymore. Bill was still talking.

"Does anyone want to argue about Draco? No opinion is too off the wall here."

Ron's opinion had been told to Harry in private: Kill Draco as soon as practical, and be done with it. Ron was easily the coldest of the people living at 12 when it came to his/their enemies, he thought that his parents and the older members had forgotten that Fred was dead because of Malfoy and his schemes. He supposed he couldn't blame George for wanting to move past the death of his twin and best friend, but Ron just couldn't forgive some people. He had watched Draco run amok for years at Hogwarts, plotting Dumbledore's death and making up hateful Quidditch songs, along with many other things. It was just better for all of them if the threat was removed once and for all.

Harry had listened, and had not said no……but he had said probably not, not unless Draco fired a Killing Curse or some other heinous spell at someone. Their side had to be cleaner than the Malfoy one, and Lucius was enough here. For now. Ron took heart in that, even if he was unsure if Harry was placating him or not. But a man doesn't question the air when it was all that there was to breathe, and Ron Weasley was finally understanding that. So he kept his peace during the meeting.

No one else argued about Draco, and Harry again had the floor.

"All right back to business, but thanks for allowing us to clarify that Pansy. Dad, you'll get a coin and be stationed inside The Ministry. I want you to let us know if it looks like Kingsley and his people are going to try a raid. I want you there only for the wedding time frame, not for the aftermath."

"Why's that? Wouldn't I be just as useful there in the hours afterward?"

"You would be even more useful then, but you would also be many times more vulnerable, and I won't risk you. They might think it's a bit convenient for you to be hanging around all day, when such things are going on."

"  
"I understand, I'll be there." Arthur had wondered if he was going to play any part in all of this, and until now, he couldn't really decide what he wanted that answer to be. But now that he got it, he was actually relieved that he would be involved, even if it was just as a lookout.

"Thanks. Anson, where are you to be during the initial part of the festivities?"

"Mingling around, making sure everyone is fed and watered, and happy."

"So playing the host then?"

"Right." Anson was currently a bit on the outs with his father, a bit, for reasons that had nothing to do with his turning against his family's side of the fence. So he was lucky to be as involved in the wedding to the extent that he was.

"Good, then you'll be our rover, able to cover anywhere we need you. Charlie, you'll be stationed in the kitchen area. George, you'll be up on the third floor, Fleur on the second floor with Pansy. Bill will cover the ground floor, while I will peg Draco and Lucius, and go where they go. Remember, the ceremony does not start, period. We cannot afford to take the chance that we miss our shot there, we have to get Lucius first, during the wine and cheese portion of the event. Bill:"

"Ideally this will look like Lucius took off on his own, though the details will need to be a bit fuzzy. Harry and Katie are going to talk to Narcissa tomorrow night, to see if she's willing to play a part. If she is, then we go with that. If not, then Obliviation is the word of the day."

McG did not like this one too much:

"What if she pretends to agree, then tells her husband? Perhaps there has been a thawing of relations there that we do not know about."

That made a lot of sense, and Bill couldn't deny it.

"Good point Minerva, change of plan. We get to her on the day, and make her agree or not agree right on the spot. Fleur, since you'll be with Pansy, you can take care of that. Just get aside for a moment and ask, but be ready for a negative reply."

"I understand, but I still think Harry and Katie should ask her about the thawing of relations that Minerva spoke of."

Katie was nodding.

"I agree, we can slip some Veritaserum in the sandwiches Kreacher always supplies. We just have to make sure that Teddy doesn't eat the wrong one." Children were not to be given Veritaserum under most any circumstances, at least up until age eight or nine, and even then only one drop. Teddy, of course, was not yet two years old.

Bill loved that idea, and Harry was nodding as if he did too. He would have Kreacher mark the wrappers somehow, Harry was already composing the questions in his mind as Bill went on.

"The idea here is to lure Lucius into a room where he's either alone, or with a minimum of people, who can presumably be taken care of. Then we worry about Draco. That can't be stressed enough: Lucius first. Without him, this whole thing is pointless, since we don't know if Draco has the entire picture. Lucius must have it, hence his value to us. Once we do have him, we go right to Hogwarts and The Chamber of Secrets, where we'll question him. Minerva, Filius, I want you two on point there. As soon as you get the floo call, be ready at Minerva's floo, and to escort us down to the Chamber. Once there, we begin the interrogation, which will be done in shifts. I have most of the script already completed. Anyone who has any specific things they want asked, get it to me at next week's meeting, and I'll do a final copy." The next meeting would be the final one before the wedding.

Harry took over:

"If Lucius is made to disappear permanently, either by death or a massive memory wipe followed by a quiet retirement somewhere far away, then 90 days must pass before Narcissa can claim his death, but in the meantime, she will have access to the Malfoy money. So she is a factor here, like it or not. Now Oliver, Katie, and I have spent time with her, and she's really not that bad. She is no Andromeda, but she's a long way away from Bellatrix. Pansy, would you concur?"

"I would, any interest in The True Voice has been more out of curiosity than anything." She had found out at the previous meeting about Narcissa's Teddy interactions, and was actually a little disquieted at first, wondering just how far into the Malfoys the rot had gone. But eventually she warmed to the idea, because if she could tolerate any Malfoy, it was Narcissa.

"Good, now if Lucius and Draco both go missing, then she gets it all."

Lisa Turpin cleared her throat, and Harry pointed at her.

"Let's go back to something you mentioned a minute ago, seemingly in passing: Do a memory wipe on Lucius and make him disappear. Is that really an option? Could we really erase a lifetime of memory and not make him a mental vegetable?"

It was an option that Harry and Bill had been batting around back and forth over the last week, as a sop to those in the group too squeamish to kill Lucius.

"It would have to be done over time, while he was living in the Chamber. Once done, we would park him in a muggle village or town and have him live out his days in quiet retirement. Narcissa would have to go along with it, since she would be funding it. I know that I won't pay for it, feeding him during his captivity is as far as I'm willing to go. But yes, it's an option, though we don't have to decide on it until we've heard his story. So expect a talk about it at the meeting two weeks from now, which will take place in Hogwarts, so we can be close to our prisoner, or prisoners, if that happens."

Molly ventured a rare opinion, lately, for her in these meetings.

"I would say right now that that option is the one I will choose when we talk about it. I don't like the idea of killing anyone in cold blood, even him. Battle is one thing, but pointing a wand at a man tied to a chair, that's another."

Harry and Bill both knew that this was a goad, in some sense, from Molly. So both resisted it. Ron was not so hesitant.

"Who says he has to be tied up? One of us could formally challenge him to a duel, like we should have done months ago, and be done with it. Remember the Department of Mysteries battle? He and a dozen of his henchmen couldn't take out six poorly trained kids, I can't imagine that he's any better at it now. And I know that all six of us are a LOT better."

Harry couldn't quite suppress his smile in time, and it was noticed by more than a few people. Including Arthur.

"Harry, I take it that you agree with Ron?"

"I agree with Ron and Molly that killing Lucius while he's tied to his chair is not how it should happen, nor is it how it's going to happen. Let's see what he tells us first, before we start drawing lots on who gets to take him out, if that's the way we go. But thank you both for your views, we really do need to hear every viewpoint here."

Penelope had another idea:

"Why can't we just make him sign a parchment, like Percy did, banishing him?"

Bill was immediately shaking his head.

"He's too rich and influential for that to work. He could just set up shop in Calais and run his organization from there, the floo is just as good from there to London as it is from anywhere in England. It worked with Percy because he didn't control anyone, Lucius does. But for any foot soldiers we come across in future missions, that's a good idea, thanks for reminding us."

Percy was still living the quiet life in Zurich, he was doing more than acceptably in his job and causing no waves. He was enjoying, even more than the money, the freedom he had from pressures from home. In his last talk with Penelope before she caught her flight home to Britain, he had confessed that he now understood Charlie, of all people, better than he had ever thought possible. Penelope had not shared any of that with Bill or the others though, even if they could suspect it.

Of course Charlie was sitting in this living room, in the house where he lived, being up to his neck in the plotting of the kidnapping of magical Britain's most hated man.

The rest of the meeting dealt with where the outside people would come in, if there was trouble, and the various escape plans. It was not until the end, that McG brought up the elephant in the room:

"What are we going to say when Kingsley, or Robards himself, pounds on one of our doors and demands that we hand over Lucius, or Draco. If there is carnage at the wedding, we are the obvious, and one might say, only, suspects."

Bill was ready for that:

"You invite him inside, and tell him to search until satisfied. This house will never have Lucius in it, his magical residue for prior visits must have dissipated by now. The Burrow and my place will be able to say the same. Hogwarts, as we all know, would take months to search, and I doubt we would need more than three days with the Veritaserum. Even if we have both of them, we would go in shifts."

"That only answers part of the question Bill, as you well know." She said that with a 'of course I thought about that part you dolt' manner.

"Of course I know Minerva, but it's the risk we are all willing to take. I might remind all of you that the vote to take Lucius was unanimous, whatever private misgivings any of you might have had. Besides, in order to prove a kidnapping, and thus put any of us under Veritaserum, they need one of two things: A ransom note, or physical evidence of an abduction. Anything else is just them speculating. Now we're sure as shit not giving them a ransom note, and we're going to try like anything to avoid physical evidence." Of course Kingsley could just arrest someone and force feed them the Veritaserum, but Bill and Harry were taking the chance that their former war buddy had not gone over to the Dark side, and would be willing to do that.

Hermione, who was not loving this plan at any point, had a point to add:

"Besides Minerva, we're only the most prominent in a long list of Malfoy enemies. He and his people ran amok during the Pius Thicknesses regime at The Ministry, there are plenty of people with scores to settle." She knew that they were committed to the idea now, and Hermione wanted to help Harry and Bill if she could.

"Is it possible to create a fake opposition group to take credit for this?" Luna was just thinking out loud, but it came at a quiet point, right after Hermione was done speaking and before anyone else could try to get a word in.

Now there was real quiet, but Neville started shaking his head.

"A great idea, but one that's probably too late to go with. The quickest we could get it up and running would be the middle of the week, and that's just not enough time."

But that led to Charlie having an idea.

"I do have a way of killing him, if that's the decision, without any of us having to do it."

Everyone leaned forward, even the ones who didn't want the man dead were curious now.

"We deposit him in one of London's seedier areas, and give him some kind of potion or potions to weaken him enough so that he can't Apparate. Put a knife in his pocket and see if he can walk out of there. We'd take his wand, and follow him to see what happens. He'll insult some muggle gang member and be taken care of, no way can the man fight hand to hand."

Molly just looked disgusted at the idea, with McG and Flitwick not far behind. Arthur, though, was the one to say it out loud.

"A bit elaborate just to keep his blood off our hands. I would prefer Ron's idea, give the man his wand and designate one of us to fight him. Given their personal histories with him, I would say that Luna, Hermione, and Anson have the most right to be that person."

One of the unlikeliest of trinities, but as everyone chewed it over, it made sense. Hermione had been tortured at Malfoy Manor, Luna kept prisoner there. Anson had been forced to marry Lucius' niece, which was it's own form of torture, and proved that in a serious discussion, Arthur kept his sense of humor somewhat. Anson was the first to respond too:

"I'm not really good with dueling, so I would prefer that it not be me, I doubt I could take anyone in this room in a duel. It's just not one of my strengths. But if we're putting this to a vote when the time comes, I'll be with Ron, his idea is the most reasonable."

Hermione had looked daggers at Arthur for bringing her name into his, and was shaking her head even before Anson finished speaking.

"I'm not going to risk my life just to kill Lucius Malfoy in a way that would clear our collective consciences. Yes, I could probably take him in a duel, but he might get lucky, and I would not enjoy the consequences. If he deserves to die, then we draw three names out of a hat and have them make up a firing squad. I don't see how it makes any difference him being tied to a chair or running around free."

"Hermione spoke for me, I have nothing to add." Luna did not have pleasant memories of Malfoy Manor, and was exceedingly glad that the wedding was not taking place there, even if she was not to be part of the inside crew. Arthur was correct though, she was not opposed to Lucius' death, however it may occur.

Arthur had left one key name out: Ginny's. Lucius had slipped her Riddle's diary way back when, which altered her Hogwarts' life for the rest of her time there. In a way, she was the person in the room who had been most affected by Lucius, unless one counts the Harry/Teddy situation, as Harry would have a child to raise for the next 16 years and change. Ginny, who generally said little during these debates, would ask him later on why he had neglected to mention her. Arthur blandly told his daughter that he had forgotten.

He hadn't forgotten. But the Weasley patriarch did not want a Weasley doing the killing.

They went over their dispositions a couple more times, and then everyone went home. Bill would do the fine tuning during the week, and the smooth copy would be the next Sunday. Minus the impersonations, the Parkinsons did not need to know about everything.

Monday, November 24, 1999

Hogwarts, Office of the Flying Instructor

5:40 pm

Narcissa had put a classified ad in the previous Monday's Daily Prophet, advertising for a zander. That was their signal that she could not make the meeting. Harry was immediately suspicious, before Katie reminded him that at least Narcissa had used the signal, and not just pulled a no-show. It would turn out that she had been invited over to Parkinson Manor for some last minute wedding plans, and couldn't make an excuse up quickly enough to decline. She had just started eating the marked sandwich when she surprised Harry and Katie.

"I was at your game yesterday."

"You were?" The Malfoys had only been at the very first one, Harry was surprised that they had not made another scene about it.

"Lucius is friends with the Falcons' owner, we were sitting in his box."

"Poor guy, he must have been frothing at the mouth." Harry did not sound at all sympathetic, he had quiet enjoyed the 420-100 slaughter of the Falmouth Falcons by Puddlemere United, who were still tied for second place, and the talk of the league, with one game remaining before the winter break.

"He was displeased to say the least. Most of the talk was about the wedding though, Richard was probably the only one really watching the game." Narcissa had told them that she could take or leave Quidditch.

Katie couldn't resist a shot:

"I'd pay some galleons to watch your husband talking wedding details." She laughed a bit, she found it to be quite funny.

"Oh he and Draco were doing more bragging than anything, about how rich and powerful we are, and blather like that." She sounded rather bored with it all.

Harry then dipped his toe in the water.

"How are you and Lucius getting along these days?"

"I'm here aren't I? Or do you want details of our sex life?"

The was such a good rejoinder that Harry really started laughing, Katie was shaking with it as well.

"Oh that was good, very good. But don't tempt me. Have you forgiven him for killing your sister?" The Veritaserum would make her tell about the sex too, but Harry wasn't interested in hearing about it.

"No, of course not." Narcissa had been given a light dose of the drug, due to it being spread out in a sandwich, so she never noticed her brain forming the true answer, and spitting it out.

"Glad to hear, and you shouldn't. Tell me, do you want Draco to marry Pansy? Is she good enough for your son?"

"She'll do, though after my experience with his father, I had hoped that Draco would find someone to love. But his father's influence won out, and we'll keep the bloodline intact, that's all that matters to Lucius. And apparently, to Draco." She did sound a bit regretful.

"Do you like Pansy as a person?"

"I suppose so, why are you asking all of these questions about Draco and Pansy?" Now she was a bit suspicious, but just a bit.

Katie too wanted to hear the answer to that question, this was not going as they had talked about at lunch.

"I have a morbid curiosity about the two young people in our world who hate me most, getting hitched, and what they're getting at." He didn't dare let Narcissa in on the fact that not only did Pansy not hate him, she was allied with him against Draco…..and probably had a thing for him as well, which would forever be unrequited.

Still, he had to stop himself from telling her all this, just to see what she'd say. He could always Obliviate her afterward of course. But he decided that he had pushed Katie far enough for one day, her body language was already indicating a 'what the hell were you playing at Mr. Subtlety?' question in his near future.

Narcissa didn't notice any of this, for her these visits were about Teddy, she looked at Harry and Katie relatively little while she was around them.

"Understandable I suppose. I was expecting a more flamboyant refusal to the wedding invitation."

"Was Draco?"

"He was disappointed at the politeness of it."

"Then what I did was perfect, I'm always happy to disappoint your son."

But Harry had his answers, and he would tell Fleur that she had the go ahead to do the approach in the early moments of Saturday. He was confident that Narcissa would be on board. It wouldn't help during the kidnapping itself, but it would be very large help during the aftermath.

Friday, November 28, 1999

Eagleton's Fish and Chip Palace, Fulham

1:00 pm

Bill and Harry were eating their now weekly Friday lunch, it was a good time to set up the Saturday rump Order meeting, and the larger one the following day. Plus it allowed them to bond a bit as friends, as Bill was not around Harry on a social level nearly as much as his three Blighty-based brothers, all of whom lived with Harry. Eagleton's was a place Harry, Oliver, and Katie had discovered while wandering around the Fulham area of London, and Harry had turned Bill on to the great food. It was totally muggle, and deemed completely safe to talk about Order business.

But today was all about Lucius Malfoy.

"Harry, tell me honestly: Do you believe in this plan? Is it going to work?" Bill was asking for the feeling of Harry's gut.

"We'll get Lucius, I'm positive of that. No way is that wedding party going to expect what we're doing. So if we have to fight our way out, we can. But can we do it quietly? I think we can, yeah. But a perfect mission involves luck, and we can't plan for that. What do you think?"

"Much the same, but we're relying so much on Pansy and Anson, that's what is making me nervous about all of this Harry. I know that we can do it, the five of us, four Weasleys and you who might as well be one. But those two are the wild cards." Harry and Bill had stacked the inside group with all of that in mind.

"I have the same worries mate, but they've passed the drug tests with flying colors, we're only going on past history here."

"Percy passed the tests too, and so has Narcissa with her husband. Maybe there's a way around Veritaserum that we don't know about, that they do." Even Bill knew that he was reaching, as Percy and Narcissa had known ahead of time that they would be tested, and had their wands to boot. He just couldn't shake his doubts of the Parkinson siblings.

"Slughorn swears up and down that there isn't, and he's been checking." The Harry and Bill interrogations had been going so well that Hermione, on her own initiative, had asked Slughorn to find out if there were antidotes, even ones considered highly experimental. She had reported his results back to Harry.

"But does he have enough shady friends anymore? He's a known loyalist on our side of the fence now. I mean, there must be some black market experimenting going on." Bill didn't sound worried, he just sounded like he was covering all of his angles.

"I think he would know Bill." They were both smiling now.

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, we're on then. What are you doing tonight? I can't imagine that Pansy would dare do another Slytherin meeting the night before her putative wedding." Bill had been the unseen observer the week before, and had been very impressed with Pansy Parkinson, budding politician. A bit concerned too, about the potential monster they were letting out, but still impressed.

"She's having her bachelorette party I think, she said something about it Sunday but I wasn't really paying attention. No, Hermione and I are going to have a night out in London, just the two of us. No politics, no magic, no giggling child. Just me and her." Charlie and Ginny were going to look after Teddy, they were apartment hunting for her in London currently, and the three of them were going to make a day of it.

"That's what Fleur and I are doing, although we're going to this little restaurant in Swansea that I've been hearing about."

"Perhaps our last real night of freedom in Britain." If things went really, really badly the next day.

Bill pretended to take it as the joke that it wasn't.

"It won't, we beat them the last time we took them on, this time will be no different. And this time, he doesn't know that there's a fight coming. But before we go, there's one more thing that you and I have to do."

"What's that?"

Harry watched Bill take a parchment out of his pocket, and surreptitiously enlarge it.

"Doing magic in front of muggles? So bold." He was snickering, the current iteration of The Ministry was rather lax on that kind of thing, as long as nobody saw anything.

"Yeah, yeah, like you don't do it five times a day when you're out in the world. No, this is our anti-violence parchment."

"So I see, what about it?"

"You and I are going to remove our names from the list, and later on so are Charlie and George. Fleur already has."

"My God, you're that worried about Pansy and Anson?" Harry was worried, to a point, about them too. But it had never occurred to him that there would need to be a modification of the parchments.

"We need to be prepared, yes. But I'm also wondering about Ron executing sentence on Draco if we get hold of him."

Harry looked a touch horrified upon hearing that.

"I know I've mentioned it to you…….." He trailed off, hoping Bill was signal that he was kidding. No such luck though.

"George said something as well, remember he spends more time with Ron than the rest us. We don't need Ron settling old scores, or trying to prove that he only takes orders from the two of us in theory, not in practice. But that's a peripheral concern, what gave me the notion to do this is Pansy and Anson."

"What happens if someone new joins and sees that we're not on the list."

"You and I won't be going back on it, but the other three will be. You and I need to have room to maneuver, just in case things go a bit south after we take care of Lucius."

"So he's a dead man." Not a question.

"We're fixing either a Ministry cover-up or a Ministry screw-up, it's one or the other. I wasn't advocating that they terminate everyone with a Dark Mark on their arms, but the leaders should at the very least be in prison. And he was a leader, he needs to go. It never should have been allowed to go this far Harry, and unfortunately we have to be the ones to fix it. You were dead right in what you told Kingsley, they screwed up the peace. We're not crossing any lines here little brother, the other side has already erased them."

"Do you want to put it to a vote? Even a rigged one will have the appearance of legitimacy to the others."

"I don't know that we'd win a vote Harry, that's the problem. But we have a few days to ponder it, no sense trying to borrow trouble before we even have him. Now I have to get back to the office and get some work done." He got up and laid some money on the table for the bill, it was his turn.

"Okay then, I'll see you at 12 at the crack of dawn."

"Just about, 6:00 is a bit earlier than I prefer to get up on day off." They were meeting at 7:00 am, Bill was a slow to get ready kind of guy.

"But it's not really a day off, though is it."

"No it isn't. Have fun tonight."

"You too mate, take care." They shook hands, and went off to the bank and Hogwarts, respectively.

Later that night, as Harry and Hermione were walking back to the SUV from their dinner destination:

"Cold out here isn't it?" They were already wearing their winter coats.

"It's the end of November Harry, of course it's cold."

"I guess I'm just not used to it, we spent seven of the last eight Novembers at Hogwarts, and the other one on the road in that tent."

"The weirdest for me was my birthday and not being in school, that really hits home."

"Do you regret not going to university?"

Hermione's second choice for post-Hogwarts had been to go to Oxford or Cambridge, though she wasn't sure what she wanted to study once she got to one of those places. She had been one of five Hogwarts graduates in the jumbo Class of 1998 to apply, and the only one of the five not to go. That had been taken care of when McGonagall had given her the History job, though Hermione had deferred admission for a year, just to make sure.

"I do, a bit. I'd always dreamed of being a student at one of those schools, participating in the ceremonies, being around people with the same goals as I did. I didn't have that at Hogwarts, Dumbledore kept the Houses so isolated from each other that I couldn't get to know some of the Ravenclaws who might have helped me there."

"You can always go next year, nothing says that you have to stay at Hogwarts forever."

"What about you? Would you go with me?"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks, and since Hermione was holding his hand, she was yanked back a bit as Harry started laughing.

Not really at her, but at the idea.

"To Oxford? Are you crazy? I'm not the least bit prepared for that kind of schooling, hardly any of us are. You are, only because you kept it in mind as a goal, I never really thought about going to university. But even if I had, that train left the station the same moment The Hogwarts Express did."

"You never thought about it? Even as a kid?"

"Who was going to pay for it?"

That brought Hermione up short, she knew that Vernon and Petunia wouldn't have given him a copper cash for the bus, let alone university fees. It wasn't often that she fully grasped how hopeless Harry's life had seemed before Hagrid's first visit to him. But it was hitting her now.

"Point taken, I guess I can't blame you."

"Vernon was talking about shipping me off to the military once my A levels were done. I mean, he couldn't have forced me or anything, you can't do that in this day and age. But I wouldn't have had many other attractive options, so I might have given it a go."

"Do you wonder if things would have gotten better if you had not gotten your Hogwarts letter? With the Dursleys?"

"They knew it was coming Hermione, Petunia at the very least knew. She had seen it with Mum, all the weird little things that couldn't really be explained away. They happened with me too. They knew."

Hermione knew it was begging for trouble to ask this next question, but the two of them talked so rarely about the Dursleys that she just couldn't help herself, and he wasn't really sounding bitter.

"Do you ever wish for some kind of closure with them?"

"I don't know if I could go in there and not kill them, and that's why I don't dare try and see them. Dudley I would leave alone, maybe, he just didn't know any better, it was the way that they raised him. But Vernon and Petunia, they did know better. No, I'm going to leave them be until I can get past the hate I have for them. If that's never, then so be it."

Hermione wasn't sure if she really hated anyone, though Lucius was darn close. But she could understand how Harry could, growing up like that. She was quiet for a moment, and Harry filled the gap.

"But if you want to go to university next year, of course I'll support it."

"Thanks, it means a lot to me that I'd have your support on it."

"I'll probably have to duel your dad over who pays for it, maybe a series of Monopoly games or something. I suck at cards, so it can't be that." He was grinning now, and Hermione took heart from it, and was smiling too.

They drove home and found it empty of everyone save Kreacher. Everyone was out and about except for them. It was a rare occurrence at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and the two of them decided to savor it. Tomorrow would take care of tomorrow, and very soon at that.

Saturday, November 29, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Parkinson Manor in Cornwall, various points in Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts

7:00 am

The players started arriving at 12 at 6:30 am, in time to force down some breakfast and get the worries out in front of people. Neville was up with them too, even though he wasn't due to leave for Diagon Alley, playing Harry, until 10:00 am. So he acted as unofficial greeter, as each person in turn came tumbling through the floo. By 6:45 everyone was there that would be going to Parkinson Manor. Neil Brunsden, playing Bill, and Oliver, Katie, and Molly, playing themselves, were not there. They would be needed later on in the morning as the decoys, Molly would be walking around with Neil.

Harry just pretended that this was the morning before a Quidditch game, and mentally geared himself up with that in mind. George was cracking jokes like he always did at breakfast, though he still wasn't the same jokester without his twin. Charlie paced about, eating a breakfast sandwich as he did, all nervous energy. Bill and Fleur came later than most, having had a quiet breakfast together, looking remarkably calm. So calm that George sidled up to them and quietly asked:

"So did you two start the morning off right or something?" He said it in sotto voice, without any accompanying eyebrow raising.

Fleur's grasp of English missed some innuendo every once in awhile, and it was only after she looked at Bill's face that she got what her brother-in-law was saying.

"Only a man who doesn't experience it himself very often would even ask."

She sounded very French as she said it, and George grinned at her.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing, far from it."

"Only you George, only you." Bill was smiling tightly, as he walked to the head of the kitchen table.

"Alright then, is everyone ready? Everyone have their counterfeit invitations?" Bill had gotten a forger to make some copies of Harry's invite, after which the forger had been immediately Obliviated.

Nods all around, as they all stood up.

"Good, don't do your Glamour Charms until we get there, we need them to hold as long as possible. Okay, let's get the portkeys ready."

The portkeys, one for the inside team and one for the outside, would take them to a spot three kilometers from Parkinson Manor.

Neville watched them gather in the living room, five people on each muggle jump rope, and quietly said a prayer. Out loud:

"Good luck guys, I'll see you at Hogwarts." He got some smiles in return, as everyone made sure they had hold of the ropes.

Then Bill and Soren, the senior members of each rope, said in unison:

"Activate!"

End Chapter


	32. It's Payback Time

Saturday, November 29, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Parkinson Manor in Cornwall, various points in Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts

7:00 am

The portkeys landed at the correct spots, ten meters away from each other, in the middle of a field. They still had a three kilometer hike to their next destination, but an hour to get there, so even a glacial walk would get them there in plenty of time. Bill made sure that everyone was there first, and then addressed them.

"Let's get moving then, better to get there and wait, rather than have to rush." He gave them a couple of minutes to get their breath back after the portkey ride, and then set out.

This was the second time Bill and Harry had been there, they had done a dry run a week ago this morning. They had not been able to get inside Parkinson Manor, the Parkinson parents had not gone out as planned, so the dress rehearsal had been limited to looking at the house and getting a feel for their surroundings. The house was relatively isolated, indeed in the middle of the cleared part of a small forest, though the Muggle Repelling Charms made it seem that the forest was not cleared at all.

The group started off on their hike, with very little talk during the first ten minutes. The plan had been gone over and over again, and it didn't seem like the time for chitchat. Harry and Hermione walked together, both of them having flashbacks to their time on the road during Hallows year. All that was missing was the tent. A glance by Harry back at Ron, and he could tell that his friend was thinking much the same thing. They shared a nod and a brief smile.

Bill was walking with his wife for a bit at the end of the group, but after a few hundred meters caught up with his youngest brother for a quick chat.

"Alright Ron?"

"I'm good Bill, you ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to be."

"Good, this will be a good day for our side."

It was kind of cliché, and Bill almost laughed, but given what he had to say now, he chose not to .

"Ron, whatever you have planned for Draco, I want to make it clear that we need to question him first. Got it?"

Ron somehow kept walking, but badly wanted to give Harry a dirty look.

"Whatever you say." Said in a slightly hostile sounding monotone.

"I mean it, and it wasn't just Harry who talked to me about it. So don't yell at him later on. Look, I'll make you a deal." He had kept this in his back pocket if Ron seemed intransigent.

"I'm listening."

"Do what I say now, and if Draco is to be liquidated during this or in the future, you have dibs. Deal?"

"Deal." Ron had the sense not to offer to shake hands, nor was such an offer given him.

"Good, now do you understand why I didn't want you inside? We need this to go smoothly brother. I'm not saying that you don't have grievances, or that they're nonsense. But let's find out what they know before disposal." Ron had bitched to both Harry and Bill about George being on the inside team and him on the outside one. Bill legitimately thought that George was a better fighter, he was creative in a way that Ron didn't have the brains for, but Bill was also worried about any revenge scenarios. Harry had deferred to Bill, and not put up any arguments.

"I get it Bill, you don't have to worry about. And you didn't, even before the deal."

"I know, but part of being a leader is making sure." Bill was lying, he didn't believe Ron had no plans. But he justified it to himself by the his belief that Ron had been lying to him first. He went back to walk with his wife, but didn't say anything to her about what he and Ron had talked about, he knew his brother was listening. Instead they held hands and just walked.

There were other murmurings among the ten of them, but little of any substance was said until they got within the one kilometer mark, or what they estimated was, based on the Bill and Harry recon work. Bill stopped them for a moment, looking at his watch. It was 7:25.

"Okay, another 600 meters or so and we'll hit the wards. According to the siblings, they only restrict Apparition and portkeys. But we can't take the chance that there are some that they don't know about, there will certainly be some kind of magical alarm system on the house and a few meters out from it, so they'll know each of us are coming. But the key thing to remember is to act as if you belong, since they have a severely restricted floo system, most guests are going to be arriving this way. We're just early is all. Inside team, let's move out. Outside team, hang back for two minutes, then start following us. Anything comes at us in front BEFORE we get to the house, you get out of here, Apparate back. We'll sort it out ourselves. Let's rest for five minutes, and then move out again." He thought it wasn't out of the realm that the Malfoys or the Parkinsons would have security people in the area. But Bill was confident that the five of them could handle it, Harry and Fleur could surely take down anybody coming at them. Speaking of which, Harry and Fleur were walking together after the brief break, ahead of the other three.

"Fleur, I'm getting some eerie Tri-Wizard flashbacks right about now." The words 'Wands out you reckon?' were ringing very loudly.

"I know, I have the same feelings. What are your instincts telling you?"

Harry had told her and Bill about the sense of danger he had felt before his confrontations with Lucius and Draco, then with Ginny.

"They're just telling me to be on our guard, no alarm is blaring. Don't worry, you guys will be the first to know if I feel anything."

"Best that we stay in front then, we are the fastest in the group." Also the smallest, by a decent margin.

"It might be too late now, but I'm going to find a way to develop this sense I have. I'll have to find a trustworthy Unspeakable or something." He chuckled a bit at the last, and she joined him.

Another four minutes and Bill started scanning the woods ahead of them. The scan was good for 20 meters with good accuracy, and it was only a few seconds later that he pinged the wards.

"Just like I thought, anyone can just walk right in, literally. Everyone keep scanning until we get in sight of the house. Once we're at the bare edge, then put your Glamours on."

That was another 350 meters away, the house had a 50 meter lawn in every direction. Parkinson Manor had been in the family for over 500 years, and looked it, it was almost a mini-castle. Just no moat. It was designed for defense against an enemy who was charging at them, with excellent fields of fire from the house itself. Its vulnerability was from people just wandering on up, which is why Bill was somewhat surprised at no Alarm Charms or the like, even on a day like today. He just couldn't believe that people who talked tough like the Malfoys, and presumably the Parkinsons, wouldn't at least anticipate some revenge coming from their targets. They were either full of surprises here, or stupid, and Bill was not sure which of those possibilities bothered him more.

They were 60 meters out, and could just see the house from where they were, when Bill stopped them.

"Okay, put your Glamours on now. You all have your mirrors?"

Nods from the other four. The mirrors were not magical, they were merely there for the five of them to check periodically that their disguises were holding. There were mirrors in the house in various rooms, but better safe than sorry. They were now transformed into different looking people, though Glamours did not impact someone's height or voice. That, and the clothes that they were wearing, would tell Bill who everyone was.

"Alright then. Fleur, go first. Harry, wait until she's inside, then count to 200 before you leave. Go Fleur." His voice caught for a second as he watched his wife head into the serpents' nest, but everyone pretended not to hear it.

Fleur ambled off, making sure that her green dress did not drag in the grass. She covered the ground in 30 seconds, being in no apparent hurry. Once at the door, she grabbed the heavy brass knocker and slammed it down twice.

A wizened looking house elf opened the door.

"Yes? Are you here for the wedding?" The clothes made it obvious, but the forms had to be obeyed. Plus, it was a bit early.

"Yes, my name is Allison McCloud, I am a friend of the bride's. She asked me to come early to help her get ready." Fleur, for reasons that passed understanding, could do a Scots accent better than an English one, and this one fooled the elf. She handed over the invitation.

"Of course. Will a guest be joining you?" He looked around her, and didn't see anyone.

"He will be here for the ceremony."

"Very well, please come in. I will let Miss Pansy know that you are here." He bowed to her, and bade her to enter. He didn't get a chance to go get Pansy, because the lady herself came out of the living room and into the foyer.

"There you are Allison, I getting worried." Pansy had not started getting ready yet, and was wearing a dressing gown, with slippers, her hair in a ponytail.

"Sorry, I got held up. But let's get you ready." Fleur knew that her accent wouldn't hold for long, and the elf was still standing there.

Or he was, until Pansy waved him off, and led Fleur upstairs. Once they were in Pansy's bedroom:

"Are the others behind you?" Pansy always made sure that there were no Listeners in her bedroom, so she knew that they could speak freely.

"You should hear a knock any moment, that will be Harry." Harry would be it for awhile, as they didn't want any patterns developing. George was due in about 30 minutes, with Charlie, then Bill coming in ten minute intervals.

"The plan still in place?" She could have told Fleur that they wouldn't hear any knock, the bedroom was too far away from the front door, but didn't think it mattered.

"We are ready."

"Good, good. After all that planning, all that time, it's finally here." She did sound a bit tense.

"Are your friends coming? To help you get ready?" The last thing Fleur wanted was conversation with a bunch of Slytherin girls, but she was resigned to it.

"Eventually, but not anytime soon. Best that we just sit tight until everyone is in place. Would you like anything to eat or drink? I can have one of the elves bring you something.

Fleur wasn't sure if this was a setup or the younger woman was really just trying to be nice, but all the same she shook her head.

"No thank you."

So they sat, and thought.

Harry got into the house with no difficulty, particularly when Anson appeared to vouch for him, saying that he was one of his friends there to help him with his duties. Harry's counterfeit invitation passed muster, and he followed Anson into the kitchen. There were two house elves preparing food, but no humans. He knew that at some point they would come into contact with the parents Parkinson, but all in all he preferred that not to be anytime soon.

"Everything on track?" Anson too was tense, for the same, and yet for different, reasons.

"So far, so good. I'm looking forward to a great wedding." For the benefit of the two elves.

"Me too, thanks for helping me out today."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, old friend." Harry checked his watch, 8:05 am.

"I'm looking forward to seeing my baby sister walk down the aisle."

"What time is Draco getting here? I haven't seen him in awhile, looking forward to saying hello." Oh yes he was, but it was a hello that Draco would not like very much.

"He said something the other day about 11:00 or so, I think that's when all three Malfoys are arriving." Anson too was looking forward to their arrival.

Harry groaned on the inside, three more hours at the very least. Well, he would certainly get to know Anson.

George came next, with Anson greeting him, followed by Charlie and Bill later on. George and Charlie were explained by Anson as extra security, just in case someone got a little too free with the alcohol and started waving his/her wand around. Or that's how he told it to Castor and Decilia Parkinson, his parents. They came upon Anson and George as they were letting Charlie into the house, Harry having disappeared to look around.

"That's good thinking son. Will you two be Disillusioned, or just mingling?" The parents Parkinson had heard multiple knocks on the door in the last hour, but had not seen any new people, which made them idly curious enough to investigate.

Charlie was still reeling from how easily the plan was going so far, but George answered for him.

"We thought a mixture of both Mr. Parkinson, one of us always visible, one always Disillusioned. But if you have a preference………"

George could be extremely charming when it suited him, and it was playing here as well.

"No, your idea is very sound. Carry on gentleman." It was a tone of dismissal, but not an impolite one.

"Thank you sir." From George.

"Thank you Mr. Parkinson." From Charlie, who had finally found his voice.

The Parkinson parents disappeared, separately, and the three younger men were left standing there.

"Well that was a close one, good thinking George." George had identified himself to Anson on the way in, as had Harry.

"You don't be as a big a troublemaker as I am and not be able to think on my feet. You okay Charlie?"

"I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting to meet them on the way in. Where's our other male friend?" Just in case someone was listening.

"He's around somewhere, he'll find us later on." Anson had told him what rooms were warded, but otherwise had not asked Harry where he was going.

"One more to go, let's not go anywhere too far." Charlie didn't think that the parents would be coming back this way anytime soon. The five of them had timed their arrivals to be alone, which was a risk in that they stood out, but counterbalanced by not having to answer any uncomfortable questions by their fellow attendees if they met them while walking in from the woods.

"Pansy's guest is upstairs with her, from what the door elf told me. So that's all set." Anson had heard the first knock, but the elf had gotten to the door before Anson even started towards it. He had been hoping that Pansy would get there, and was glad when she did.

"So it's hurry up and wait." Charlie too was looking at his watch, and dreading how to fill the time.

"Pretty much, but all weddings are like that, I know mine was." It was not a day that he looked back on with much fondness, his Malfoy bride was even snottier than Draco at his worst, and that was saying something. Only threats from Lucius and his parents had prevented him from killing her. Fortunately Fred Weasley had done the job for him, not that anyone involved knew that piece of trivia.

George was about to tell a story from Bill's wedding, then realized that he would have to change so many names that it wouldn't even be worth it. Instead:

"Waiting makes me hungry, any shot we could get something to snack on while we wait?"

Charlie perked up, and even Anson's stomach started grumbling in agreement. One thing though:

"Let's wait for our last arrival, then we'll do a kitchen raid, we should be here when he comes to the door."

"Absolutely right, we can wait a few." George, in spite of himself, thought that Anson was an alright guy. He thought that the man was little more than a product of his environment, and not mentally tough enough to break free from all of that……until now of course. Of course, he had reflected, neither Percy nor Harry were true products of their environments either, and look how they had turned out.

Bill entered the house without incident, and finally everyone was in the building, and so far undetected as hostiles. The four men went to the kitchen to grab some sandwiches and drinks, and after eating, the three Weasley brothers got a quick tour of the ground floor.

Harry, while all this was going on, was on the upper floors, doing some looking around. He peeked into any room with an open door, which was about half of them, and found that most of the rooms on the second floor were guest rooms of some sort. Anson had said that the two warded rooms, as well as the three main bedrooms, were on the third floor. Harry meant to stay away from that floor during the hostilities, no sense in doing things any higher up than they needed to be. They would have to fly to get out of there in that scenario, and no one had thought to bring any brooms. Harry momentarily pictured the sight of all the Order members on brooms assaulting this house via the air, and divebombing with curses and such. It was a pleasant thought, though he didn't dwell on it.

What he did do, once fantasy time was over, was pick the room that they wanted to bring Lucius and perhaps Draco to, to get them out of there. It was on the right side of the house, with no doors opening up that way on the ground floor, just another window like this one. If there was pursuit, it would take longer to get to them if they had to come around from the front or rear side doors. All the five of them, plus any prisoners, had to do was make it 50 meters into the woods, then the outside group would cover them long enough for everyone to make it to the edge of the wards. 50 meters, shouldn't even take George, the slowest runner of the bunch, seven seconds to run. And that was assuming that anyone would even be chasing them right away, if at all.

Harry looked at his watch again, 9:15 am, still lots of time. He sat on the bed in the guest room and went over the plan in his head repeatedly. There was still plenty of time.

Meanwhile, in Diagon Alley:

Neville, aka the fake Harry, along with Oliver and Katie, was doing a brief tour of Diagon Alley. The three of them had some coffee at The Leaky Cauldon, and talked casually of their plans for the day. They didn't whisper the plans, but didn't broadcast them loudly either. So people did hear them. None of the fake plans involved the words 'Malfoy' or 'Parkinson' of course, but were sufficiently public. They made mention of visiting the shop to get some pranks to pull on their teammates, and even spent a second cup of coffee time planning a prank out, on poor Roger Davies, who had just lost his starting Chaser job and probably didn't want to be pranked right about now.

Molly and 'Bill' were in WWW all morning, holding down the fort. A few customers came in, but when they asked, were told that George was at Hogwarts and Ron was out on a day trip with Lavender. Lavender was told that something large was going down today, but not what, only that she should stay out of sight today and not be seen in Diagon Alley or was Ron who did the asking, so Lavender obeyed without complaint.

At Hogwarts:

McG, Flitwick, and Keenan spent the second half of the morning in the Headmistresses office, waiting for news and pretending to believe that no news was good news. Like so many of the team members, they were clock/wristwatch watching.

Outside Parkinson Manor:

The outside team was the most bored of all of them, since they didn't have the edge excitement of being in the house, but still had to be slightly on their guard all the same. Once 10:00 am hit they were forced to spread out a bit, so as not to be apparent to the guests coming in. Ron and Ginny moved out a bit to the east, and had a quick, hurried conversation.

"What did Bill want earlier?"

"He wanted to make sure that I didn't kill Draco too soon."

"You agreed?" Ginny, from past conversations, assumed that Ron had some sort of grudge against Draco. She doubted that he would be able to resist temptation if Draco fell into his hands.

"Yeah, the little ferret does need to be questioned first, I can understand that."

"I'm surprised, I thought the idea all along was to get Draco quickly, before Bill or Harry can interfere." A bit of a goad in that.

"It was, but Bill said I would have first shot at Draco when we kill him. Either he fulfills his promise and I get my revenge, or he doesn't and I have something to hold over him."

"What if Harry kills him without Bill knowing or approving?"

"He won't, Harry wants everyone to believe that he defers to Bill, and he won't do anything to upset that where people can see."

Ron walked back to the others, leaving his sister standing there, dumbstruck at how much sense he had made.

Back to Parkinson Manor:

The guests started arriving at the stroke of 10:00, the free food and drink is a powerful draw, plus the names Malfoy and Parkinson. Anson and Bill were at the door greeting people and escorting them into the main areas. Charlie was in charge of looking after coats and such, and heard enough moneybags in those coats to make him wish that he really was a criminal, and could snag a couple. George was Disillusioned near Castor Parkinson's study, just in case he got an opportunity to go in there and poke around, it was locked otherwise.

Harry was still upstairs, poking around the third floor now, while Fleur was still with Pansy, who was still not getting ready, other than giving herself a pedicure. Harry wandered down after a bit, and found Bill.

"Come with me."

The two of them went upstairs, and Harry showed him the room that he had designated.

"What do you think?"

"I like it, what do you think about putting some locking charms on the back door before we leave?"

"I think it's a great idea if we're leaving in a noisy way, but a really bad move if we manage to get out of here without any fireworks. They'll know that something rank went down later on, which would blow our cover story out of the water."

"Good point. We'll only do it if there's a disturbance then, you're right. What time do we want to do it?" More than anything, Bill wanted a quiet exit. He would certainly trade Draco for it, and if pressed, he might even say that he would trade Lucius for it. At least then they could live to fight/kidnap another day.

"As close to the start of the walk down the aisle as possible." They had already planned to have one of them tell one of the Parkinson parents that he was called away at the last moment, and would be returning for the reception afterward.

"We need to get to Fleur, so she can talk to Narcissa for us."

"Let's go up there now, it should just still be the two of them."

"You know which room?"

"I do, Pansy told me the other day, just in case we needed her."

Bill had a lot he could say about that, about Pansy making sure that Harry knew where her bedroom was, but he kept his tongue still as Harry led them up to the third floor. He walked over to one of the doors and knocked a couple of times.

No one said come in, but instead the door cracked open, and it was Pansy.

"Yes?" She didn't recognize either of them of course.

"It's Harry and Bill, can you talk?"

"Sure, it's just his wife and I, come in."

She opened the door, and the men could see that she was still not dressed, or even started on the process other than her nails being done and some jewelry on.

"What's going on?"

"We just wanted to figure out when the approach to Narcissa can be made?" Bill answered, while noticing that Harry was looking around the room.

"They're not here yet are they?" A glance by Pansy at the clock on her wall said that it was 10:20.

"Not unless they arrived in the last five minutes, no. Can we bring her up here?"

"I'd rather that you didn't, Daphne and Tracey will be here at 11:00 to help me get ready, so that might be awkward, either trying to get rid of them or me ducking out. Best that you use Anson's room next door."

Anson had not mentioned this in the hours since Harry and Bill had gotten to the house, but it made enough sense that neither of them argued the point. Bill carried on:

"What time are you supposed to descend from here?"

"Noon on the dot, I wait until the music starts and then I walk down to the next floor, where my dad meets me and we do the deal. Only I'm not going to do that, right?"

"Right, but Lucius is first, then we have him 'send' for Draco. Once they take off, you'll be in the clear."

"Glad to hear it, and I'm glad too that you guys are here. It's nice that someone in this house is on my side for a change, besides Anson." It sounded very genuine, particularly given who was saying it.

"Well we can't blame anyone for not wanting to marry Draco Malfoy."

Harry kept silent, as part of him wanted to remind Pansy that she had mooned over Draco for years, and very obviously at that. Instead:

"Fleur, we'll be back for you when we have Narcissa."

"I'll be ready."

The two men left, and Pansy continued what she had been doing before Bill and Harry had visited: Pumping Fleur for Beauxbatons stories. She saw it as a way to pass the time, and the older woman did have some interesting tales to tell. Soon the two of them were chattering away again, awaiting the arrivals of Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass.

Harry and the three Weasleys spent the next 40 minutes staying out of the way, if possible, and being helpful if not. They got, if nothing else, a look at most of the True Voice council, as pretty much all of the 'dark' side of the fence was in attendance, or at least represented. Some of these people would be the forces behind The True Voice once Lucius was gone, and Bill mentally congratulated himself on not letting Ron come inside, or his bloodthirsty little brother would be firing curses right and left.

The three main Malfoys arrived precisely at 11:00 am, via the floo fireplace in Castor Parkinson's study/office, three of the few guests that were allowed such a privilege. They came alone, and were part of the relatively small groom's side of the guest list for this occasion, at least when it came to family.

Lucius was the only male in his generation in his branch of the family, his sister had only two daughters and the two of them had no first cousins, one of the daughters had married Anson Parkinson. Draco was it in his level as well for his gender, his closest male relative of his own age was a fourth cousin living in Ireland. So the Malfoy name was a powerful one, but it was a dying out clan, and only the three of them carried the actual Malfoy name into this ceremony, with two others having close blood. There was a lot of pressure on Draco to produce at least two children, and right quickly. This had been communicated to Draco and Pansy in no uncertain terms. The two young ones were to honeymoon in The Bahamas after the wedding, and a pregnancy announcement soon afterward would be looked upon very favorably by the two families.

They were greeted by Castor himself, his wife out amongst the guests, and there were many smiles. Even Draco was smiling, as his future father-in-law shook his hand.

"So Draco, ready for your big day?"

"It's Pansy's big day sir, I'm just necessary for the completion of it." Given his smile rendering any sarcasm moot, it was a gracious thing to say, and somewhat out of character.

Or so Narcissa noticed, perhaps her son was changing for the better. Maybe this marriage would be a good thing for him in ways not including procreation and the continuation of the Malfoy line. After all, he was only 19 years old, not too late to change.

Lucius and Castor didn't appear to notice anything, as the four of them walked out into the party area. Narcissa ventured a question.

"Pansy is upstairs getting ready?"

"She is, went up about 15 minutes ago I think after a brief appearance to say hello. Decilia is under orders not to follow, just Pansy and three of her friends, that's all." Castor had wondered how it even took four people to get a bride ready, including the bride, but had been non-verbally shouted down by the dirty looks from his wife and daughter. He didn't argue though, he agreed with Draco that it was the bride's day.

Lucius did have something negative to say about the day:

"A pity that marriage in our world has become so much like the muggles. Just a civil ceremony, no magical binding of the two people like in days past."

Divorce in the magical world was about as simple to obtain as it was in muggle Britain, though magical couples rarely availed themselves of it. As one would expect, the closer to muggles the couple was in terms of lifestyle and heritage, the more likely the divorce, though it was still uncommon. Under the old ways, which had totally died out around the 18th century, a magically bound marriage only ended with the death of one of the participants. It was abolished by Ministry decree after a series of divorce via death killings, but purebloods still lamented for the old ways.

"Well Lucius old man, not every marriage can be as successful as ours." Castor's hand gesture included Narcissi and Lucius in his version of 'ours'.

"True my friend, very true. But enough from me, this is a day of happiness, the joining of our two families. Draco, go mingle with your guests."

Draco dutifully moved off, and was immediately the center of attention, accepting congratulations and good wishes from everyone. He was still relatively gracious about the whole thing, considering that he didn't really care about the marriage, but he didn't let any of that show. He figured that if he wanted Pansy to be the suitable public companion and private breeder that he wanted her to be, the least he could do was let her have her wedding day to remember fondly. He was at it for a quarter hour, joined in the last couple of minutes by his father, when a house elf appeared in front of them:

The house elf bowed to the Malfoy men.

"Mr. Draco, will you come with me please, there is someone who needs to speak with you."

"Who?" Draco knew that there was no risk in this room, but he still wanted to know. He assumed it to be Castor Parkinson.

"A gentleman of the family, let me put it that way." Anson had told him that he was not to be named.

"Fine, take me to him. I'll be back in a moment Father."

Lucius nodded at him, and turned to greet more people. The elf led Draco upstairs one floor to one of the spare rooms, though not the one Harry had picked out earlier. He knocked on the door and was bade to enter. The elf snapped his fingers and the door opened, and he walked in. Draco followed, and saw Anson Parkinson looking at him, smiling.

"Mr. Draco, sir." The elf bowed to Anson.

"Thank you Andrak, you may go." Andrak had been his personal elf during his early life in the house, as well as the one elf on staff that was totally devoted to him personally, and not necessarily to the family Parkinson. This was the first chance Anson had gotten to shake loose of his Weasleys shadows, one of whom was always with him. He had used the age old 'I have to use the bathroom' scam, and it had worked perfectly. But he didn't have much time here.

"Sir." He popped away, leaving the two of them alone.

"What do you want Anson? The age old speech about treating your little sister right?" Draco was very amused, now that he saw who his interrogator would be. He had always thought of Pansy's older brother as a pretender, not someone who could actually do something. Even at age 13 he had never respected the man, who was seven years his senior.

"I doubt you would listen, so no, that's not why you're here."

"Then why am I here? Get on with it man." Draco was already bored and looking at his watch. Big mistake in retrospect.

"CRUCIO!"

Anson had slipped his wand out without Draco noticing, and the curse hit young Malfoy square in the stomach.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!" Draco immediately hit the ground, and tried to cover his stomach with his hands, to no avail.

The scream was more surprise at first, as Anson's effort was not that effective. But Parkinson got better with each second, as he held the curse for 15 seconds total. Anson was below average, power-wise, for a Wizard his age……..but as Bella Lestrange had told Harry, it was hate that really made Cruiciatus what it was, hatred for your opponent, and Anson had that in spades.

"Accio wand!" Draco's wand flew into his hand, and he put it in his pocket.

"Of all the things that could have happened today, you weren't expecting that, were you?"

He didn't get an answer, as Draco was still moaning on the ground. He bent down next to him, wand pointed at his head, a smug smile on his face. Now Anson was the one who sounded amused, to say the least. This was one of the great moments of his life.

"I'll take that as a no. Don't worry, you can scream and moan all you like, this room is soundproofed. No one is going to rescue you, the people who supposedly love you will never know what happened here, or happened to you. Now, if you could think straight, you would be wondering what's going on here. Revenge is what's going on here, you puffed up idiot. Pansy was 13 when you took her first, sullied her. You've been using her ever since, as your errand girl, your sex toy, to build up your pathetic little ego. But not any longer my little friend. Not any longer. Crucio!"

Right in the crotch this time, and Draco's plumbing would need some fixing before it could be properly used again. It was only five seconds, but for the Malfoy scion it seemed like a lifetime. His mind was so foggy that he had barely heard any of the 'reasoning' behind it all.

As soon as the second Cruciatus was finished, Anson gave his would be brother-in-law a minute to collect himself.

"I bet you're wondering if you're going to die right now."

Draco could think a bit now, and he tried to look around him for a way out.

"What the hell do you want from me Parkinson?" Sure he had used Pansy over the years, but it wasn't like she didn't want it. Hell, she loved it. Didn't she?

"Revenge, obviously. But don't worry, I won't be the one to kill you. Another of your friends will be the one to do that. Not Pansy of course, we can't have your wife being questioned about your untimely death, now can we?" He gave his foe a chance to get his breath.

"This is all because I've shagged your sister?" Draco couldn't believe this was happening, that this monument to mediocrity was torturing him, on his own wedding day no less.

"That, and a few other things, all part of a larger plan little buddy. I can't talk about some of it, promises have been made. But it will all be clear to you soon enough. Crucio!!"

Again at the crotch, and if Draco lived through this, he might not have to worry about procreation any longer. His screams during the ten seconds of torture would have waked the dead, except that Anson had not lied, in that this really was a soundproofed room.

Anson Parkinson had been through Death Eater 'training', such as it was, so this was not his first time with Cruciatus. But all of his targets before now had been muggle in nature, either true muggles or muggleborns, with the occasional squib thrown in for good measure. But until now, he had never truly enjoyed that kind of thing, he just flat out did not care for torture for the sake of torture. But now he had a reason, and it invigorated him. But he held back a little, he knew that he couldn't kill Draco.

"Okay, that's enough for now. Now I'm going to take some hair from you, if you don't mind." He grabbed a tuft of Draco's blonde hair and yanked it, cutting it off with his wand.

"Thanks, we'll need that soon, so that we can go through with the ceremony."

Draco was listening in a fashion, but was too busy throwing up his breakfast to actually respond.

"Man, you stink. I'd clean it up, but I want you to smell it for awhile. Here, let me help you make some more of it." With that, Anson gave Draco a few vicious kicks to the stomach, and a football style boot to his minerals.

Cue more puking.

Anson fired a couple of Bone Breaker Curses at each of Draco's legs, ensuring that he wouldn't be running anywhere, and then tied him up with some magical ropes. He levitated him up and led him over to the room's closet. Draco was in too much pain to protest anything, and when a Silencing Charm was placed on him, his screams were muffled to.

"I loved your screaming brother-in-law, but it got to be a bit much. Now you just sit tight in here, and someone will be along to collect you soon enough." Anson then hocked back, and spit in Draco's face before closing the closet door. He checked his watch, and saw that he had been gone for barely 10 minutes, just short enough to explain away. He hurried back downstairs, and found the disguised Bill waiting for him as he got to the bottom of the landing.

"Where have you been?"

"I told you, I had to use the loo, it takes how long it takes."

"We need to move soon, go get Narcissa and bring her up to Pansy's room, she and my wife are waiting." It was now 11:30 or thereabouts, the walking down the aisle was just 30 minutes away.

"I'm on it. Calm down Bill, everything is going to go according to plan." He neglected to say whose plan.

"Just get going, please." Bill kept his voice as steady as he could, but it was getting to post time, and he couldn't help but get a bit tense.

Anson just nodded, and moved into the crowd of people, looking for Draco's mother. It took a minute, but he soon found her chatting with Lucius's sister Patricia. He lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

"Narcissa."

"Hello Anson." Narcissa, in the dark recesses of her mind, thought that if Potter could turn anyone in The True Voice, it was this man. He had always seemed weak.

"Could you come with me please? Pansy would like to speak with you for a moment."

"Of course, lead on. Patricia, I'll be back in a few moments."

The two of them walked in silence up to the third floor, and Anson knocked on Pansy's door, by the pre-arrangement.

"Come in!" It was Pansy's voice, she had gotten rid of Daphne and Tracey as planned.

No need to peek through the door this time, as Pansy was now fully dressed, and putting on her makeup. All that was left was the finishing touches, and her shoes, and she would be ready.

"Why don't you look lovely Pansy, Draco is a lucky man." Indeed Narcissa was impressed by the sight of Pansy all dressed up like she was.

"Thank you, I appreciate you coming up here like this."

"Well of course, anything for the bride-to-be. I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

She was looking at the disguised Fleur, who put her wand to her face, and said the words:

"Finite Incantatem."

The Glamours dissolved, and Fleur Weasley appeared. If Narcissa had been holding a drink tumbler as she had been moments before, it would have shattered on the ground. But now she just gaped.

"Hello Narcissa." Gone was the fake Scottish accent that she had successfully gotten by Pansy's friends.

"You! What the hell are you doing………oh my God, you're attacking!?" She looked around as if she expected to see a horde of Weasleys coming through the door any second.

"Not exactly. We just want one person."

Any dimwit could figure out which person, and Narcissa was up to the task, even as surprised as she was.

"You want Lucius?"

"We do, and we're taking him today. We need to know what he knows."

"Why the……why are you telling me this? You want my help?" The room was spinning now.

"After the fact yes, we want you tell The Ministry, or anyone else that asks, that he went away on business."

"In the middle of his son's wedding?"

"He was called away suddenly." Even Fleur thought that that was the weak part of the enterprise.

"Why would I help you?"

"Because then you get the Malfoy money, and your freedom. No more taking orders from him, or anyone else."

"You're going to kill him, aren't you?" Not that she minded, in theory.

"Highly likely, but you can have a say in that if you choose to. But he is coming with us today, come hell or high water, as you English say. Are you with us?"

"I don't have a choice here, do I?"

Pansy interrupted her train of thought by clearing her throat.

"See, here's the thing Narcissa, Fleur is right in one thing, and wrong in another."

Both Fleur and Narcissa looked at her strangely, and the older woman responded.

"What are you talking about Pansy?"

Pansy had backed up, slowly, to her makeup table, where her wand lay.

"You won't be getting the money, but you will have the ultimate freedom."

Pansy picked up her wand, and in a practiced move:

"Avada Kedavra!"

End Chapter


	33. Uncomfortable

Author's Note: A request to all reviewers please: I appreciate that you dig the twists and turns I'm chucking into the story, but please don't be going: "Wouldn't it be cool if xxxxxx happened next" or "Here's what I would do xxxxxxx." It paints me into a corner sometimes by making me feel guilty about using it if I was genuinely going to do that anyway, or limits my options if I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Just a request, thank you, it's a lot more fun for me when I paint myself into my own corners.

Sunday, November 29, 1999, continued

Parkinson Manor, Cornwall

11:40 am

Pansy picked up her wand, and in a practiced move:

"Avada Kedavra!"

Narcissa Malfoy was in such a state of shock that she didn't even flinch as the Killing Curse slammed into her chest from a distance of less than three meters. She keeled over, dead, with a rather loud thump when she hit the floor.

Fleur didn't even get a chance to produce her wand, as Anson's was at her head, the tip touching her hair.

"Don't even think about it Fleur." The words were threatening, but the tone was quite calm.

Pansy still had her wand in hand, but was not pointing it at Fleur.

"We're assuming that you and the other four took your names off the anti-violence parchment, just in case. But that means we can fire on you too, so no sudden moves. If I wanted you dead, it would have been done hours ago. You go along with what we're doing here, and you won't be touched."

"What do you want?" It was all Fleur could do not to look at Narcissa's dead body right now, let alone try and process how these two had gotten the drop on her like this.

"I want a lot of things Fleur, and I just got one of them. Anson, get her wand and toss it over here."

Anson, very carefully, pulled Fleur's wand out of it's holder and tossed it to his sister.

"Thank you, now please go get Harry and Bill, it's time to tell them that the plan has changed."

Anson quickly departed, and Pansy leaned against her makeup table, careful to avoid wrinkling her dress.

"You must have a lot of questions reeling through your mind, but let them wait for the boys, no point in having anyone repeat themselves."

"Fair enough." Once Harry and Bill got here the odds would be a bit different., or so she thought.

"Good, just a few slight deviations from what you all came up with……and you came up with a great plan by the way. It just didn't totally suit our purposes."

Fleur said nothing, but instead waited out the two minutes it took for Anson to come back with Bill and Harry. Bill came through the door first and started talking before he saw the situation.

"So Narcissa, are you……….what the hell?" It now hit him that they were in Pansy's room, when the Narcissa meeting was supposed to be in the next room over.

Bill then took in the twin sights of Narcissa lying face down on the floor, not moving, along with Pansy holding a wand pointed at his wife.

"There's been a change in plan Bill, though the results will still be the same, for you. I'll give your wife back her wand if you and Harry give me your word that you'll listen and not start firing curses. Agreed?"

Harry knew that he could take down both Pansy and Anson if it came to it, but there was a risk to Fleur. So he spoke first:

"Agreed."

Bill whipped his head over to his friend, who just shrugged.

"Fine, agreed. No wands firing from any of us." He rationalized that Fleur had not given any guarantees here.

"Good, it's nice to deal with practical people." She threw Fleur's wand back to her.

"Now please explain what the blue hell is going on here. She's dead I take it?" She sure wasn't moving, and Bill had barely taken an eye off her since he saw her.

"Very dead, as Fleur here can confirm. Draco is our guest in one of the other rooms, though he's in no condition to go through with the festivities. But they will go on, because I want the Malfoy money, all of it. Once you dispose of Lucius, I will dispose of my dear husband, and it will all go to me. Anson and I will still be on your side in the war, openly if that suits our collective purposes."

Bill took a deep breath and collected himself. He had been counting on a pliant and grateful Narcissa to smooth the way after Lucius' kidnapping and death. Now he was not going to get that.

"So technically, you killed her. Who 'officially' killed her?"

Pansy, who had been half smiling all the while, was now grinning.

"Poor Lucius found out that she was dealing with you people and did the deed, before escaping to parts unknown. Where he'll stay, assuming you lot take proper care of his body."

Harry was keeping quiet, or at least he was until Bill turned to him.

"Please tell me that you didn't know about any of this."

"I didn't." Harry kept his voice calm, but there would be some words later, he thought and vowed.

"Alright then. I am given to think that Draco is not in pristine condition, am I right?"

Anson answered him, since Pansy was not privy to all of the details.

"He is alive, but not ambulatory at present."

"You worked him over." Not a question.

"What if Potter here had treated your sister the way he treated mine, what would you have done to him?"

Bill really hated it when logic like that was used against him, but he conceded the point with a nod.

"Well I won't be weeping tears over that git, and I agree that you have cause. What's next? You have 15 minutes to get down there, and I imagine that Draco is already being missed. Not to mention that Lucius needs to be dealt with."

"Two of you need to substitute as Draco and Narcissa, just for the wedding. The marriage documents have already been signed, we just need the Ministry official to accept the vows. Fleur, will polyjuice work with you?"

"To a point, but not for long. Certainly not for the hour that it is supposed to."

"We would need 20 minutes at most, then you disappear up here with Lucius where he tragically kills his wife and then flees." If only it would turn out that way.

"Okay." Fleur said no more, feeling that there was no other way to go here, and time was of the essence.

"Good, now whomever plays Draco will need to be at it for at least an hour, if not two. There will be mingling and such after the vows, and toasts and all that." Pansy did not name her preference, but there was really only one person who could impersonate Draco and remotely get away with it.

And Harry knew it.

"Obviously it's me then, since I know him better than the others and can fake it. Fleur, best to take the polyjuice now and get down there. I'll be along shortly."

Fleur hated this part of the plan, but she kept her peace and took the mug of potion that Pansy offered her, the younger woman first adding a hair from the dead Mrs. Malfoy. She swallowed it one gulp, and didn't even make a face, hiding her emotions well. She did it so quickly that Bill didn't even have time to threaten the Parkinsons about what would happen to them if that concoction was not, in fact, polyjuice.

And Fleur turned into Mrs. Malfoy right before their eyes.

"Alright, I did it, but I am not going down there alone. Harry must come with me."

Bill was now attempting to get control back of the situation.

"Okay, so Harry goes down there as Draco, does the vows, mingles with those idiots……and then what?"

"You grab Lucius as planned, while Anson smuggles out Draco. We will be his guardians, so to speak. Narcissa will be found here by my parents, with Lucius' wand lying on the floor after she injured him. Eventually the wills will be read, and an Imperious'd Draco will be produced to accept the money, after which, he'll die. I haven't decided how yet, but it won't be pleasant."

"So you and Harry leave here and, then what?"

"I will go on my honeymoon to Bermuda, I need some sun. Harry will play in his game tomorrow and win, I hope. I will see you all at the Order meeting a week from tomorrow, where the two of us, and the lot of you, will compare notes and see how we proceed. Remember this Bill: You're still getting everything you wanted from the day, Anson and I will just be getting a little more." Around 18 million galleons, plus Pansy's dowry back. She knew the figures because her betrothed did a lot of bragging about it, and she was also very curious as to the size of Harry's vault.

Harry was the first to think of it.

"How long a life expectancy might your parents have Pansy, if you don't mind me asking?" He figured that while Pansy might cut her brother in on the Malfoy fortune a little, the man would want his own pie to eat from.

Anson and Pansy both smiled at him, the latter liking how he thought.

"Well that depends now doesn't it? Their reaction to the events today will answer you." In fact Pansy had already planned their deaths in detail, but she wasn't willing to share quite yet.

Harry, Bill, and Fleur all took that to mean that the parents Parkinson likely wouldn't see Christmas as living people, but individually they all decided that their fates just weren't worth worrying about now, or ever.

"Give me the drink then, but any tricks……..well, let your imagination say the rest for me."

"Everyone has their wands right now Harry, Anson and I can't outfight the loving couple here, and we know it. Of course if we could outfight you lot, we might not have switched sides. Here you go." She held out the second cup of polyjuice to Harry, who held it long enough for Anson to add the Draco hair that he had obtained.

Harry took a deep breath, said a brief prayer that this would not blow up in his face, and took the cup down in two swallows.

"Oh God that tastes nasty."

But he said it as Draco Malfoy, and Bill had never come this close to chest pains before in his life, seeing that man that was arguably his best friend turn into……well, this. But he recovered:

"Okay you two, get going. Tell Castor Parkinson that Pansy is ready when he is."

"Got it." Harry put on Draco's wedding robes, which Anson helpfully provided for him, and attached a hip flask of the Polyjuice potion for later use.

The two of them left, Fleur/Narcissa holding on to Harry/Draco's arm, both for form and for support. As they went down the stairs, Fleur whispered to him.

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's too late now, but no, I'm not. Nothing to do but do it and get it over with." Harry was wondering if there was another shoe to be dropped. On him.

They were met at the landing by Decilia and Castor, mother Parkinson had a semi-worried expression on her face.

"Is everything okay, you were up there for a long time Draco." She was wondering if there had been a fight or something, and Narcissa had gone up there to cool things down.

"It's fine, Anson and I had a little talk, and Mother had a few words with Pansy." All of which was true, technically speaking.

"It was nothing earth shattering Decilia, just things that should have been said weeks ago. I'm looking forward to spending more time with Pansy once the honeymoon is over." Pansy and Draco had been, and probably still were, scheduled to move into Malfoy Manor. The house had tons of rooms available, and privacy would not be an issue.

Castor looked very pleased.

"Excellent, is Pansy ready to come down?" A look at the clock said seven minutes to go, and Castor was a clock watcher.

"Give her just two or three more minutes, she's putting the finishing touches on now, a beautiful bride." For all the idle talk Harry had made about joining a theater troupe, Fleur thought that she deserved a BAFTA for the performance that she was giving right now.

"Come along Mother, I'll show you to your seat." Harry didn't want to push their luck any further than it had to be pushed.

"Lead on, my handsome son the groom."

They walked out, with one more Harry whisper.

"Don't over do it Mother dear, she wasn't a gusher like that." Of all the non-Parkinson Order people, Harry had spent the most time with her. And Narcissa did not gush around Teddy, and if she wasn't like that with him, she wouldn't be like that with anyone.

"Oh hush, every woman is like that when a child gets married." Fleur plastered what she hoped was Narcissa like smile on her face.

"This isn't France you know."

"Believe me, I know."

They made their entrance, both of them wondering what Bill was up to on the third floor.

Bill had demanded to see Draco, to make sure that the groom was still alive. Rationally, Bill knew that Pansy was right, he was still getting what he wanted. But he was also getting a new, more dangerous addition to the game. He had thought of Pansy's Slytherin plans as something for the future, not realizing that she saw the future as the present. Worse yet, she seemed to be getting Harry more and more on her side. Yes Harry was the logical choice to portray Draco, such as it was, but this was still a big, big problem.

Anson took Bill down to the room where he was holding Draco. He opened the closet door, and showed Bill the prisoner.

Draco was conscious, and looking at Anson with undisguised hatred as he started yelling at him. There was no sound because of the Silencing Charm on him, but it was still a sight for Bill to see. Bill put his wand to his face.

"Finite Incantatem."

Thus revealing himself to be Bill Weasley, rather than Paul Travers as he had been introducing himself. Draco's eyes got as big as dinner plates as he took this in, and his mouth stopped moving.

"Your torture wasn't my idea Draco, it was Anson's. But I'm not sorry that it happened, I can't be. You've pulled too much crap for too long a time, and you did shag his sister without her full approval apparently. Just think about one thing, if we had gotten hold of you for disposal, Ron would have been the one to take care of you. He still might be, if Anson here is reasonable or I can think of something to trade. And Ron really, really hates your guts my friend. I shudder to think about the horrors he would visit upon you, and I'm a hard man. Think about that Draco, you're reaping what you sowed." Bill then closed the door and walked out of the room, Anson following.

"Nice little speech, I might have some urine to clean up later."

"Thanks, I think. How bad did you hurt him?"

"He was conscious wasn't he? Couldn't have been that bad." In fact Anson thought he had been rather light on his enemy, though time constraints had played a big role in that.

"Fair point." Bill put the Glamour Charm back on his face, and they walked downstairs quickly, they could hear Pansy and Castor descending the flight above them.

"You mentioned a trade?"

"We'll work something out, but in the event that we don't, I still want that man questioned, thoroughly. Torture him if you feel you have to, but get my answers."

"Whatever you say boss. Was that stuff about Ron true?"

"Yes it was, just make sure that Narcissa and her wand are not removed from that bedroom." They were now in the main area, a few walls had been temporarily vanished to accommodate all of the guests. He could see Harry/Draco standing up at the altar, with Lucius, Fleur/Narcissa, and Decilia all sitting together in the front row. George was nowhere to be seen, but Charlie was in the back row, with an empty seat next to him. Bill sat down, and his brother immediately leaned over to him.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?"

"We've had some developments, and the plan has changed a bit. But we're still walking out of here with what we came for. I'll tell you after the vows, just sit tight."

"Where's our other Seeker?" Meaning Harry.

"You really don't want to know, but he's safe." There was no way that Bill was going to tell his brother where Harry was right now. So it was more of a case of Bill just not wanting to tell him, rather than worry about Harry.

The music started just then, as if on cue, and within a handful of seconds, Pansy and her father appeared, walking slowly down the aisle. Her dress was white of course, with a short train that could be easily walked in. Even Bill had to admit that she looked good, not that he would ever do so out loud.

The Ministry official then began the proceedings. In what must have been Gawain Robards' idea of a twisted wedding present, the mid-level official happened to be Pius Thicknesse, former puppet Minister and currently fourth in charge at the Department of Magical Games and Sport. But all the rules said was that a ten year Ministry employee be present to accept the vows, and Thicknesse fit that requirement. Lucius had almost gone berserk when he found out, but he had done nothing tangible about it yet. He was making plans though, even as he sat in his front row seat being ignored by the woman whom he assumed was his wife.

After all the blather about marriage being sacred, a couple's duty to one another, and the price of tea in China, Thicknesse got down to the nitty gritty.

"Do you, Draco Malfoy, take Pansy Parkinson to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Harry/Draco did not dare hesitate, and he didn't.

"I do." He managed to sound half bored, half sincere, which is how he thought Draco would have done it.

"Pansy Parkinson, do you take Draco Malfoy to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Pansy's grin was very large, not the typical demure smile of a bride.

"I do."

"The rings please."

Pansy put the ring on her 'husband's' finger, and Harry did likewise to her, thinking that it was one of the most surreal experiences of his life.

"Then by the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Pansy put her arms around Harry's head and drew him to her for a five second, open mouthed tongue kiss that had just about every part of Harry screaming at him to break off. But he knew that his life was literally on the line here, and so he kissed her until she broke it off.

"The happy couple." Thicknesse tried to sound enthusiastic, but failed miserably.

The newlyweds turned to the crowd, which started applauding politely. Pansy put her arm around Harry for the walk back down the aisle. She leaned up to him and whispered:

"Smile after I finish, and make sure to sell this, we're both dead if the ruse is exposed."

Harry smiled in what he hoped was a Draco-like way, and whispered back:

"You're really pushing the limits here Mrs. Malfoy, one might even say you're exceeding them."

He didn't wait for a reply as he started guiding Pansy down the aisle. They were both smiling as they accepted congratulation, and said many:

"Thank you for coming."

Bill and Charlie were on Harry's side of the way as he walked, and as he got to the end, instead of 'thank you for coming', Harry said:

"Make it quick." Still smiling though, and even Pansy didn't hear him, only Bill and Charlie.

Once the happy couple was out, Charlie turned to Bill.

"What did he mean by that?"

"Don't say another word, just follow me."

Bill took advantage of being in the last row, and got himself and his brother out of there before any of the other guests could. He guided Charlie over to the front door entrance way, where presumably no one would be coming in or going out. But by now, Charlie had worked out at least one of the puzzles. He spoke very softly to his older brother.

"Please tell me that that wasn't Harry walking down the aisle."

"Yes it was, but Draco was the one who married Pansy, don't worry. It's just that our little blonde friend is a bit tied up at present."

"Harry worked him over?" Charlie was surprised, he thought his landlord had more self control than that.

"No, Anson did. And Pansy killed his mother."

Charlie just stood there for a moment with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Oh my God." A lot of things slammed into place now.

"Well it complicates things sure enough. Where's George?"

"I have no idea, he said he was going to find somewhere to stay out of the way. If I know him, he's sampled half the food already. Where's Fleur……oh right." It hit him right as he said it.

"Yes sir, that's where she is, and she's going to get Lucius alone for us. Look, I'll explain everything once we're out of here. But we're going to get the cake cut and all that, then do our thing. The fake groom will just have to come out later on his own. He can take care of himself." Bill hoped he was right.

"If you say so. C'mon, we'd better get back. How soon before the cake cutting?"

"An hour if we're lucky, and both our friends will have to renew their disguises too."

The two of them walked back into the reception area, which was right next to the wedding area, and full of tables with food already on them. Bill and Charlie sat down next to George, who was holding some places for them at a small table in the corner. After putting up a Silencing Bubble, not the only table currently to have one of those deployed, Bill shared the entire story with his brothers, from front to back.

Charlie was cursing a blue streak by the end of it, while George just looked troubled.

"What's the matter George?"

"One of us had better stay behind to make sure that our little brother leaves with us. I don't trust that woman."

"Nobody does, probably not even her brother, but she can't take out Harry unless he's totally distracted. And given what's gone on today, he'll be totally on edge."

"I hope you're right, I hope that all she wanted was the money."

Bill too thought she wanted Harry, but he thought it would only be to hurt Hermione, and perhaps Ginny. Plus, he couldn't imagine quiet Harry, who barely wanted anything to do with being the country's top young Quiddtich player, being with a climber like Pansy. He didn't say this though, the last thing he wanted was one of his brothers to go up there and forcibly separate Harry and Pansy, who seemed to be deep in conversation.

Up there was the head table, which thankfully for Harry was just the 'happy' couple, the families were at the table next to them. Fleur managed to get herself on the end of her table, next to Lucius of course, so she didn't have to talk to anyone. Lucius, thankfully for Fleur, ignored her other than a few pleasantries, instead he was catching up with his sister, who lived in San Marino and rarely came back to Britain. So Fleur at least could breathe a bit easier, though she was still very tense. Not a lot of food was eaten by her in any case. She did drink a couple of cups of Polyjuice, so she kept looking like Narcissa.

Harry, knowing all eyes were on him and Pansy, had a very uncomfortable time of it. He couldn't put up a Silencing Bubble either and tell her off, because people were constantly coming up to them to congratulate them, mostly people who had not been on the aisle during the walk back earlier. Worse still, was that Pansy, who would not let go of his hand above the table, was prone to pulling him over for a kiss when she wasn't eating. It was usually when one of the two photographers was aiming for a shot, so he had some warning for the most part. But it was still very odd. After the last kiss, a long one that Pansy clearly enjoyed, Harry had to ask:

"Are you this affectionate with your real husband?" Try as he might, he couldn't figure out how to stop the parade of kisses. He figured that if he complained overtly, she might try to push the limits even more.

"Maybe. You know you're loving it." Pansy certainly was, she knew that he had no choice here, she could do everything short of raping him on the table and he would have to put up with it and pretend to enjoy it.

"You really think you know me well enough to figure that?" They were both speaking very softly, neither wanted anyone to hear what they were saying, friend or foe.

"Darling please, I know you've cultivated this private, quiet type of persona, and it must be really good for brushing off your unwanted admirers. But think about your time at Hogwarts, where you always wanted to be a part of the action. I know some of it was thrust upon you, sure. But you rarely shied away from it when it came, except for your female would be groupies. That was always rather noble I thought, even if no one else in your position would do it."

"So Draco took advantage of his position in Slytherin?" Harry would have been astonished if he hadn't, Draco's ego had always needed massaging.

"He was discreet about it, I'll give him that. But he must have shagged half the girls within two years of our ages, at least once. I wasn't allowed that of course, any guy that touched me would have had an 'accident' afterward."

"Is that one reason he's tied up right now?"

"Not the big reason, but it didn't help him." The money was the big reason.

"Look, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to think about what life would be like outside your little cocoon at that house. You're 19 years old and Hermione Granger has totally domesticated you, you might as well be 39. Now I know that raising a little boy isn't easy, and she must help there. But she's so boring, is that what you really want? Didn't you ditch Ginny Weasley because you were headed down that same road?"

"I can't believe that I'm having this conversation with you, in this place, right now." He was wondering how she knew about Ginny, perhaps his ex had talked to Dean about it before Dean's unfortunate kidnapping.

"Sometimes it takes a shock to the system to snap you out of something. I'm not offering marriage, not yet anyway, just an alliance that goes beyond politics. Just think about it later on, now isn't the setting for it. Besides, we have business to finish here today."

"Yes we do, yes we do. Your hubby goes with your brother?"

"He does, but you'll have your shot at him. We want transcripts of what Lucius says though."

"You can see a pensieve memory from your brother, I want him there with us. I want Lucius to know who helped betray him. He got to Percy, let him think we got to you." It was kind of that way, though Pansy would say that it was the other way around. Harry was saving the fact that Anson had already been working for The Order for a later date, though the idea of springing on her now was getting more and more play in his mind.

The whispering had been going on for quite awhile, so they stopped and resumed eating. Harry made a point of congratulating himself mentally for not agreeing to 'think about it', as she had put it. No way was he trading in Hermione for someone like this.

Pansy, for her part, noted that Harry had not, at any point, said 'no' to what she was proposing for them. It was as much as she had hoped for going in, and she was satisfied.

After the meal was the cutting of the cake, and the two of them pulled it off with a minimum of fuss and a lot of smiles and cheers from the crowd. Harry was somewhat surprised to find out that Slytherins, when they were within their comfort groups and at a party, were actually quite a happy lot. The room was full of animated talk and laughter, with jokes being told and no talk of politics or muggleborns or anything of the sort. Once he and Pansy had fed each other a bit of cake, something he found to be a bit uncomfortable for reasons that he didn't want to think about at present, he made his way over to Lucius and Fleur/Narcissa.

"Hello all, having a good time?"

"A lovely party, Draco dear." Fleur was really hoping that this was her signal.

"Yes it is, you and Pansy seem to be enjoying yourselves."

Lucius was giving him his best smirk with that remark, it all but included a wink……and Harry was hard pressed not to slug him right then and there, plan be damned.

"Yes we are Father, it is our wedding day after all."

Harry leaned toward Fleur and put his hand on her shoulder, whispering in her ear:

"Whenever you're ready, take him upstairs, they'll be waiting."

Fleur didn't respond, she just smiled at him and nodded, and Harry left. Dancing was about to start in the room where the vows had taken place, and Harry and Pansy had to be the first dance.

"What was that about?" Lucius didn't like any conversation happening in front of him that he was not privy to.

"Oh nothing dear, Draco was telling me to make sure you only have one piece of cake."

Lucius was no longer the slim man of a few years ago, and he colored at the remark. He was about to retort when his wife abruptly got up.

"Come along dear, there is something we need to discuss."

"What are you babbling about?" Lucius was looking around for someone to rescue him.

"Come along with me, or I will make a scene that will be talked about in our crowd for the next decade. Now."

Fleur grabbed his hand and fairly yanked him from his seat. This should have told him something, as Narcissa was about as physically strong as a sheet of paper, but Fleur was not.

But Lucius was not expecting true trouble from his woman today of all days, and he allowed himself to be guided up the stairs, while thinking of hundreds of other things he would rather be doing. At the main landing he saw Paul Travers, aka Bill, whom he had been introduced to earlier as security for the wedding and reception. Bill gave a short bow.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy." Said with a tone of respect that even Bill couldn't believe that he pulled off.

"Travers." Give Lucius this, he had a memory for names and faces.

"Young man, escort us up to the second floor and stand guard outside our door, I do not want us to be disturbed for the next ten minutes." She could hear the music starting up in the ballroom area, the crowd downstairs would be more than distracted enough now.

"Yes ma'am, follow me please."

Bill took his wand out and led them up to the second floor room that Harry had picked out for this. He knocked on the door, and upon hearing no answer, opened the door and peered in, just like he thought a bodyguard would.

"It's empty Mrs. Malfoy."

"Very good Travers."

Fleur led Lucius inside and closed the door behind them. He looked around the plain guest bedroom and immediately started wondering if she wanted to have sex right now, what else could it be?

"Stupefy!"

Fleur's wand had been out and the spell coming out before Lucius even looked right at her. He was down for the count instantly, a thump on the ground just like his deceased wife.

"I know I should have made a big speech Lucius, but you're really not worth the words."

"Good one Fleur." George had been in the closet, not wanting to waste any magical energy on Disillusionment. He came out now and examined Lucius' body.

"Well you didn't kill him, congratulations."

"Oh be quiet and go get your brothers you troublemaker."

Charlie had been on the far side of the hallway, though he was under Disillusionment, and he only took it off once George came out to get them.

Soon it was all four Weasleys and an unconscious Lucius in the room. Bill took the liberty of a big sigh of relief, and then looked at his family.

"Okay, we're almost home. I'm going to go get the real Narcissa and put her in here, this will be the scene of the crime. Fleur, how much longer will that potion last?"

"A few more minutes at the most, my last drink of it was 20 minutes ago." Polyjuice and Glamour Charms did not work at all well together, it was either or, but not both.

"Then that's when we leave, I'll be right back."

Bill walked casually out of the room and up the nearest flight of stairs. He quickly found his way to Pansy's room, where thankfully Narcissa's body, now somewhat stiff from rigor, and her wand were right where they should have been. He put a Feather Light Charm on her, pocketed the wand, and lifted her up to carry. It was the bulk that made it hard to get her out of the door, but he managed, and somehow got back down to the escape room without anyone seeing him. He wasn't worried about any one person per se, but a stray house elf tasked with doing some cleaning. Bill didn't realize that they were all assigned to the reception. He deposited her on the bed and surveyed the scene for a moment, before taking Narcissa's wand in his hand.

"Crucio"

He put just enough pop in the spell for it to work properly, but not really enough to do Lucius much damage. He let it go for two seconds before shutting it off. It was his first use of Cruciatus, hopefully his last, and it made him want to take a shower afterward.

"George, grab her and stand her upright."

"Um Bill, what are you doing?" George had been very creeped out by the Cruciatus.

"Building our crime scene, now do it."

George did it, and stood to the side as much as possible, at Bill's gesture.

Bill took Lucius' wand and performed the one Unforgivable he was somewhat comfortable using:

"Avada Kedavra!"

Right at Narcissa, hitting her in the stomach, George not being close to the firing path. He didn't put a ton of power into it, but the curse takes a lot of power to kill someone with, and he could feel the effects after just the one use.

"There, thank Merlin that we don't have tests for handgun residue like the muggles do. No, Kingsley and his people, if they're allowed inside in the first place, will find these wands, test them, and find that Lucius killed Narcissa. Soon afterward Harry will tell his friend the Head Auror that Narcissa was working for us, and the cover story will be complete. We hope."

George liked the plan in theory, but……

"Yeah, we hope. Now what do we do?"

"Go get that torture happy brother of Pansy's and bring him up here. He and Draco are coming with us."

"I thought he was taking custody of the ferret."

"He is, but he's sure as anything not going to keep him here. He can drop the little bastard off on the way. I don't want that guy out of our control until we've debriefed Lucius."

"What about Harry?"

Bill sighed, he knew that George would be the one to ask that. George had been the first of the group to peg Pansy's apparent interest in Harry, and had been keeping the warnings going ever since.

"Look, I still think that most if it is just her taunting him. But in retrospect, yes, we should have had Harry keep his name on that parchment. The toothpaste is out of the tube though folks, and we have to adapt to the situation at hand. Harry can take care of himself, and he would be the first one to tell us to get the hell out of here before anything stranger goes down. Charlie, go get Anson, and make sure Harry is okay before we go."

"Gotcha."

Charlie left, and made his way back to down to the party, where half the crowd was mingling on the dance floor, and half were at their tables conversing.

Harry and Pansy had done their traditional first dance as a very slow one, after a hastily whispered conversation involving Harry telling her that he still couldn't dance. Apparently Draco could dance quite well, so the two of them stood very closely to each other and just kind of swayed to the music. They were so close that Harry was uncomfortable in more ways than one.

Pansy, to Harry's ever loving confusion, didn't do anything more provocative than kiss him at the end of it. There was no conversation and no obvious physical 'taunting'. He had been half dreading the dance just the possibility of more of her scheming, but instead she just did the swaying.

Pansy was content with how things were going though, she didn't think that she had her fish hooked just yet, at least not totally, but as far as she was concerned a lot of progress had been made. She felt that she had found the right way into securing Harry for herself though, and that he was responding a little to her overtures.

They were mingling with the guests when Charlie came into the room, looking for Anson. Harry excused himself and made his way over.

"Is it taken care of?"

"The package is being wrapped, but we want the brother and your doppelganger."

"How long before you're gone?"

"He didn't say, but figure on 15 minutes at most."

"Well hurry the bloody hell up, I can't leave unless you lot are gone."

"Look, there's some concern…….."

Harry leaned in a little closer, since he was going to use names, not innuendo.

"Don't even say it, I don't want to hear it. I can handle this. And you tell George that if he starts in to Hermione before I have a chance to talk to her, I'll hurt him. Badly."

"Okay little brother, easy." Charlie didn't really blame Harry for taking that attitude. Besides, from what he had seen during the meal, it was not as though Harry had been openly enjoying all the kissing.

"You just tell him, I won't warn anyone again. Now get out of here before those two start to be missed." Meaning Lucius and Narcissa. Indeed they were starting to be missed already, as more than a couple of people wanted to talk with Lucius before the festivities were over.

Harry went back over to Pansy, leaving Charlie to find Anson. He didn't find him though, Anson found him about a minute later near one of the buffet tables.

"Is it done?"

"So far so good. You and your prisoner are coming with us now though, Bill wants you there when we question the prisoner. You can drop your prize off on the way."

Anson looked like he didn't like this one bit.

"Don't worry, the deal still holds, you get to keep your prize as long as we get our answers. Let's just say that you're surety against your sister."

"What do you mean?" Anson had a feeling that he knew what was going on, but wanted it confirmed.

"It means that our man had better walk out of here and join us at the rendezvous. You out maneuvered us, we'll give you that, but no more of that today. Remember, right now you have just as much on the line as we do. Let's go."

Anson dutifully followed Charlie upstairs, where he collected Draco and met everyone in the escape room. After a quick private chat with Charlie, Bill addressed them.

"Alright then, here's how this is going to work. Anson and Charlie will go first, you'll go up to the happy couple and tell them that you're leaving now, that will give them their cue. Once you're outside, come to this side of the building, where I'll drop Draco and Lucius down to you. We'll use Feather Light of course, so be prepared if it's a bit windy out there. Fleur and George will be your lookouts on each side, we've probably left this too long, so there might be people leaving the party already. Once the Mafloys are out the window, I'll leave the house and we'll meet up at the rendezvous point. From there we'll drop Draco off, and then proceed to Hogwarts. Questions?"

Anson had one.

"Allow me 30 seconds of Cruiciatus with Lucius, while he's still alive, but after you question him completely. Promise me that, and you can have Draco right now. But we get him back so we can produce him at the will reading and get our end out of all this. Deal?"

Bill didn't even have to think about that one for more than half a second.

"Deal. Let's go."

Anson and Charlie went downstairs for the last time today, Anson in particular was getting a good stair climbing workout, and made their way to Harry and Pansy. The two had just finished what Harry mightily hoped was their last dance.

"Pansy, Draco, I have to get going. Have fun on your honeymoon, it was a lovely wedding." He hugged his sister.

"Thanks big brother, for everything."

Harry and Anson shook hands, the former had been watching very closely for any whispering between the two siblings, but saw nothing. He looked at Charlie and saw his friend flash five fingers, which he took to mean as many minutes. Harry nodded, and put his mouth to Pansy's ear, she had just slipped her arm around his waist.

"Five more minutes."

She nodded, as she watched her brother walk away.

"It'll be fine. This time tomorrow I'll be sitting on a beach, and you'll have a lot of your answers."

"And in a week, you'll be very rich."

"Yes I will be, in no small part thanks to you. If you weren't already wealthy I'd offer a finder's fee."

"Very funny."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to show my gratitude."

She looked up at him and smiled.

End Chapter


	34. Get Away With Murder?

Author's Note: Please keep in mind that my Hermione Granger, as far as physical appearance goes, is shaded more toward the canon description than Emma Watson. Pansy Parkinson is in the Half Blood movie, with a change in actresses from Azkaban, and the actress is yet again more attractive than the part calls for. So let's just say that both Pansy and Hermione are halfway between canon and the actresses. Speaking of casting, I've finally found my Bill, he's a British actor named Mark Strong, from Body of Lies and RocknRolla. He would look horrible in red hair, and he's a bit older than Bill would be, but I like the vibe he gives on screen. So he's my Bill.

Saturday, November 29, 1999, continued

Parkinson Manor, Cornwall, Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts

1:30 pm

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to show my gratitude."

She looked up at him and smiled.

"Why do I not find that thought comforting?" He was now determined to sign that parchment again as soon as he could get back to 12, where it now resided in a room that only he and Bill had magical access to.

"Because of that nobility I mentioned, and I'm not saying you should cheat on Granger. Our activities today were done by you under duress." Duress that Pansy was convinced that he enjoyed, even if he had not gone so far as to initiate anything.

"So you want me to break up with her, and be with you, is that what you're saying? Just so that we have all of our cards on the table."

"Something for you to think about."

"You didn't answer my question."

"You caught that did you? Then yes, that's my offer, but I won't accept yes or no right now, we all need to adjust to the new way of things."

"So you won't take no for answer?" Harry was dreading his inevitable talk with Hermione on the subject.

"Not right now darling, it can wait a week."

Harry chose to say nothing more, but he vowed that there would be no pensieve memory of this day shown from his perspective.

"We'd better make our excuses and get out of here, we don't want to be around when they discover your handiwork."

"Our handiwork darling, I believe the legal term is accessory after the fact."

"Let's just leave, pretty please?"

"Whatever you say baby. Let's go tell my parents."

They quickly found the parents Parkinson and made their excuses. Pansy explained that the portkey to get them on their way to Bermuda had just become active, and they were eager to get started on their married life. Castor insisted on a small speech, and Pansy did the honors in front of the crowd, none of whom had left yet, finishing with:

"Thank you all for coming to our special day. Draco and I are very happy that you're here to start us off. Good day, and we'll see you next week upon our return."

Harry's remarks were much, much shorter. His entire spiel:

"I cannot say it any better than that, so I won't try. Thank you all."

Pansy planted another long kiss on him after he said that, to the applause of the crowd, and after she finally let him go, Castor led them to his office to use the floo. Once in there, with the powder in Harry's hand, Castor finally asked what Harry had been dreading.

"Draco, I keep meaning to ask, where are you parents?"

"I saw them a few minutes ago, they went upstairs to talk about something."

"Ah, that explains it. Well have fun you two, I'll see you next week. I'm happy that you're a part of the family officially Draco, you were very good today." Indeed it was more graciousness in one day than Castor had ever seen in the lad in 20 years combined. But he wasn't complaining.

"I appreciate that sir." Harry didn't dare say anything more than that, as he threw the powder in the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley!"

And he was gone. Pansy followed suit after hugging her parents, who were still blissfully unaware of the true events of the day.

Once in Diagon Alley, Harry checked his watch, he had another 22 minutes until the polyjuice wore off. He took out the mirror to make sure, and nearly vomited, he had avoided mirrors in Parkinson Manor for just such a reason. When Pansy joined him, they stared at each other for a moment.

"Well this is it Harry, I'm off to the beach. Sure you don't want to come with me?" Said a bit tongue in cheek.

"I have some business with your father-in-law right now, business I've been looking forward to for a long time."

"Do what you have to do. If you need me back for any reason, let Anson know, he's got the coordinates for the cabin." She liked how he sort of ducked the question.

"I don't see why we would, but I'll remember. Have fun down there."

"You won't be having fun though, will you?"

"No, there's no good coming out of this situation for us. Just lack of bad, if we're lucky."

Pansy didn't say anything more, she merely hugged him for a moment, and then put on a Glamour of her own, walking down the street to the gateway at The Leaky Cauldron. Her luggage was at Anson's, she would take the portkey from there.

Harry looked at his watch again, 19 minutes to go until he turned back into himself. He put his hood over his head and sat down to ride it out. He wondered how the others were doing. A few minutes later, he remembered his coin, and pressed it to indicate that he was safe and sound.

Flashback to Parkinson Manor, right after Charlie talks to Harry.

Charlie and Anson headed outside as casually as they could. Once out there, they quickly made their way to the designated spot under the window. Bill saw them and gave them a thumbs up, Fleur was already on her way, with George about 20 seconds behind her. They took up their positions as lookouts, George hearing the applause from Pansy's remarks as he walked out the door. That gave him the hint that people were about to leave, if the happy couple was decamping. Bill waited for Charlie to give him the sign, and then he put the Feather Light on Lucius, and dropped him down. There was a decent wind out, but Lucius was close enough to the side of the building as to not be buffeted by it terribly. He was caught by Charlie and Anson about a meter away from the building. They placed him on the ground and waited for Draco to come down.

Draco, then Bill himself, came down without incident. Bill undid the charm on him right before he hit the ground, so no one had to catch him. He motioned to Charlie.

"You take Lucius, Anson gets Draco. Head for the woods now, the rest of us will cover you."

Charlie used his wand for Mobilicorpus and levitated Lucius. He started off at a trot, running as fast as he could while keeping control of his prisoner.

Anson did not have that kind of magical control, so he kept to a steady walk that made Bill want to scream at him to hurry the hell up. Bill walked even more slowly after Anson, to give him some cover in case George and/or Fleur saw someone leaving.

Charlie made it to the woods within 10 seconds, Anson was 10 seconds after him, their prisoners intact and undiscovered. Bill was halfway to the woods when he motioned for his wife and brother to come along. None of the three of them ran, which would look suspicious to anyone coming out of the house right now, and so for Charlie it was a very long half minute before they got to cover. But get to cover they did, and the lot of them took stock of the situation. Charlie had been looking around for their friends.

"Where are we in relation to the outside group?"

"We're 90 degrees from them, I don't know if Soren put out pickets or not, or if they're just grouped together. Did you press the coin?" Bill had pressed his the moment he got to safety.

"I did, once I got in."

Nods from the others indicated that they had as well.

"Good, then let's start moving in their direction, we should meet up with them in a few minutes, then we can head to the safe zone and get out of here. I'll lead off, then Fleur, Anson with Draco, Charlie with Lucius, and George bringing up the rear. You see anyone unfamiliar, Disillusion yourselves immediately. If they've seen you, then Stun them."

Bill didn't wait for acknowledgements, he just started off in the direction that he thought the outside group would be. It was very slow going, as they knew that people would be trooping through here any minute now, but after a three, very long minutes, Bill was stopped by Luna, who stepped out from behind a very large tree.

"So there you are, we were getting worried." She was peering at the composition of Bill's party, and immediately noticed no Harry.

"It was a long day. Where are the others?"

"Strung out along a line that Soren chose. Let me get them." She then did a series of whistles.

"Very nice, was there any trouble out here?"

"Just a lot of boredom, and avoiding the guests as they went to the house."

"Did any of them spot you?"

"Oh no, we were very carefully hidden. How did it go in there?" She was still looking for Harry and starting to panic, even though Bill did not look that way himself.

Right as she said that, Hermione came up, closely followed by Ginny.

"It was very complicated, and I'll explain it all when we get to safety."

Hermione then asked it:

"Where's Harry?"

"He's still inside, part of the complications I mentioned, but he's safe for now."

In another three minutes, Soren and Ron also came up, they had been on the far side of the arc that Bender had deployed. Bill had a quick sigh, and looked them over.

"Alright, let's get to the edge of the safe zone and use the portkey. Harry will meet us at Hogwarts once he extricates himself from the wedding. I repeat, all of us that went in are intact, though there was some static. Let's go, Soren, you lead."

Bender nodded, and led them away. She went at such an angle that it took longer, but made it far more unlikely for them to actually run into anyone. So a walk that should have taken three minutes wound up taking six, but they went undiscovered. They took out the portkeys and gathered round, making sure that Lucius and Draco, still unconscious, were holding on tightly.

"Activate."

"Activate."

They landed in a meadow that was about half a kilometer from Bill's and Fleur's cottage, where they could take the floo to Hogwarts. Once inside the cottage though, Hermione stood in front of the floo fireplace.

"We're not going anywhere until you tell me where Harry is."

"I told you where he is, he's still inside." Bill was still hoping to delay all of this until they got to Hogwarts.

"Hiding? Why would he need to do that?"

"He's hiding in plain sight Hermione. You see Draco's injuries?"

Hermione hadn't even looked at her longtime tormentor.

"Yes……Harry did that?" Ron she would have believed, if he had been inside, but not Harry, not with what was on the line here.

"No he didn't, Anson did. Before the wedding, and someone had to take Draco's place. I told you, there were complications."

"You're saying that……" She whipped her head toward Anson, who didn't say a word, but nodded his head as Bill continued.

"Draco married Pansy, he just didn't take the vows. And Narcissa is dead."

"WHAT!?"

"Calm down Hermione, I'll explain it all once we get to Hogwarts. We'll hide in McGonagall's office until Harry gets there and can open the Chamber of Secrets for us."

"I can't believe you left him in there by himself."

Bill was getting a bit frustrated at having to constantly repeat himself.

"He's not by himself, he's standing right next to Pansy, who is the one who killed Narcissa, and now is even more at risk here than we are. We did not leave him in there, he practically ordered us out. Now stand aside and let us get to safety. Do it."

It was a tone of command, and Hermione reluctantly threw the powder into the fire and yelled out:

"Headmistress McGonagall's office!"

She hopped in, and was gone. They followed in turn, with Ron and Bill going last.

"I'm holding you to our deal Bill."

"I didn't authorize Anson to touch him, trust me. But it's done now, and I remember our deal, don't worry."

It was right after he said that, that Ron felt a buzzing in his pocket. He took the coin out, and it signaled that Harry was out and okay. The two brothers looked at each other and sighed.

"Thank God."

"I know, now we just have to wait until the polyjuice wears off, and he'll join us. But it means he's out."

The two of them went to McG's office, where the rest of them were all smiling, as the outside team had all gotten Harry's signal.

Bill, the last one through the floo, turned right back to it, and used it to call:

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

Molly quickly answered him.

"Bill? Oh thank goodness."

"Get Neil out of there Mum, I'm about to call Dad and tell him that I've left."

"Is everyone okay?"

"Every one of us is just fine, but some things happened. Close the shop at 4:00 pm like we planned, and then get over here."

"I'll be there. I'm glad you're all safe and sound." Molly was now tasked to let the rest of The Order know that the plan had worked, and that everyone was at Hogwarts.

"Thanks Mum, see you soon." He ended the connection.

It was their most civil conversation this month.

Bill quickly threw some more powder in.

"Arthur Weasley!"

It took a few seconds, but soon his father's head appeared in the floo.

"Hi there Bill, what's going on?"

It was a widespread assumption among the Order members that Arthur's office was under heavy DMLE surveillance, including some measures that they probably didn't know how to find. So they had to tiptoe around things.

"Just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving WWW in a minute and am going to Hogwarts. You want to come by and chat for a bit?"

"Sure, give me a few minutes to straighten things up around here, and I'll come through. Where are you?"

"Just come to Hermione's office and I'll meet you."

"Sounds great, see you soon." Arthur ended the connection.

Bill turned to find Charlie and Fleur explaining the happenings to the assembled masses. Anson was getting some dirty looks, but everyone knew that he was not to be touched, because of the parchment. Speaking of that, Bill pulled brother Parkinson aside for a tiny chat.

"Anson, I'm going to ask you something, and you had better tell me the truth."

"There are no more surprises today, I promise." It was the logical question, and Anson anticipated it.

"When do your parents die?"

"Soon."

"And you can really do that?" Bill had no love for the politics of Castor and Decilia Parkinson, but they hadn't seemed like terrible people from what he had seen.

"You don't know them Bill, and besides, if they ever found out what Pansy and I are doing, both with you and to the Malfoys, they wouldn't make our deaths quick."

"Alright I guess. No more surprises?"

"I did promise. Just answer me one question."

"I'm listening."

"Did you take your names off the parchment like we thought?"

Bill actually smiled for a brief moment.

"We did, and you two were very clever there. I can admit that."

Without waiting for answer, he walked back over to the others.

"We're going to wait for Dad and Harry, the others should be here by then as well. Then we'll go down to the Chamber. I want the two of them watched at all times by at least two people, and that includes all night long. Our Puddlemere people will go tomorrow night, since they have things to do tomorrow morning and afternoon, but otherwise I'll figure it out before we leave the Chamber. Any questions?"

Ginny had one.

"Is it possible that Pansy forced Harry to press that coin?"

Bill sighed, they weren't going to let this go.

"Anything is possible, but I don't think that's what happened. We'll know for sure in a few minutes. So let's everyone sit down for a few minutes and wait."

They did, and Arthur got there a few minutes after they did. He gave them some raised eyebrows, but they waited to tell him the whole story.

Neville, Oliver, and Katie were a few minutes later. They had remained undisturbed as they went about their late morning activities in Diagon Alley, if there were any Auror tails, they had remained hidden.

It wasn't until 20 minutes after those three arrived that everyone truly relaxed, as Harry jogged into the office. He was tired looking and out of breath, since he had to Apparate to the edge of Hogwarts, and then make his way though the castle.

"What did I miss?"

Hermione practically tackled him with a hug, she was so relieved to see that he was okay.

"I'm fine Hermione, I'm fine." It was a nice hug though, but he didn't like the fact that everyone was staring at them, so he gently let go of her and pulled back. He looked around the room.

"Everyone get out?"

Bill walked over to him.

"We did, you left via floo?"

"Yeah, we took it to Diagon Alley and went our separate ways. I had to wait for the polyjuice to expire." It was a long wait too, making sure that no one recognized him.

"That's what we figured. Was it a close call for us? Were people leaving?"

"No, the booze hadn't run out yet."

Bill was not expecting that, so he was caught off guard. But then he started chuckling.

"Very funny, but I'm glad that they stocked up. Pansy get away alright?" He could see Anson perking up as he asked that.

"She did, she was going to get her luggage and be off to the beach." Much to Harry's relief, the last person he wanted to deal with right now was her.

Bill was not so sure about that, but he didn't want to visit that topic in front of everyone.

"Well let's get going, they're going to discover Narcissa any minute."

"I thought you were going to plant the evidence and all that?" Harry had just assumed that it was all set.

"I'm not a trained crime scene investigator Harry, I don't know what they look for and how they look for it. I did the best I could with the little time that I had available." Bill was now sounding very testy.

Harry didn't say a word, he just waved Keenan forward to join him.

"Giles and I will lead, and clear any stray students out of our way. You guys stay within hearing distance of us and keep on our tails." He would give anything to have the Marauder's Map right now, but he didn't want McG or Flitwick to know of its existence.

Without waiting for an answer, Harry walked out of McG's office, Keenan right behind him. This gave the others no choice but to follow, with Lucius and Draco being the in the middle. Molly, Rachel, and Penelope would not be coming down to the Chamber, but would still be coming to Hogwarts to get updates and things. Teddy was in his third Kreacher as the only babysitter afternoon, though Molly would go fetch him in time for dinner.

Harry and Giles came across five students and one non-Order teacher on their walk to the Chamber's bathroom entrance, and successfully herded them out of the way using a combination of stern warnings, threats, and a flat out lie to Professor Vector. Thankfully Peeves was nowhere to be seen, and Glamours were put on Lucius and Draco just in case a painting saw them. It was a long 10 minute walk, but Draco and Lucius were still undiscovered when they got to Moaning Myrtle's palace.

Myrtle was not about for the moment, but Harry was taking no chances as he hissed open the faucet that led down to the Chamber. But before he could jump in, Ron had a quick query, he vividly remembered his time down there.

"How are we getting back out? I doubt Fawkes is just going to appear to help us again."

"I stashed a dozen brooms down there a couple of days ago." They were the school brooms that he had taught the flying classes on. Crap brooms, but good enough to get them back up.

Ron had no further questions, and so Harry went tumbling down the chute, followed by the others. It was a wild ride, but no one was hurt upon landing. As they were all dusting themselves off, Harry sidled up to Ginny.

"You okay?" He remembered that Ginny's last time down here was not too pleasant.

"I'm fine, but thanks. How was your last time down here with the brooms?" She started walking, and Harry went along with her, they were leading the group.

"More than a bit creepy."

They shared a tight laugh, but behind them Arthur couldn't help but smile. He harbored no hopes of his daughter and surrogate son getting back together, but it was very telling to him that only Harry had thought to talk to Ginny about being back down here.

It only took a few minutes to get to the main area, and everyone stopped for a second to take it all in. Everyone had heard the stories of what had happened all those years ago, even Bender and Keenan, but just Harry and Ginny had actually been here. Harry had been tempted to send Kreacher down here to straighten things up, but ultimately he wanted Lucius and Draco to feel intimidated. Speaking of Draco, Harry went over to Bill.

"Do we want to let either of those two know that we have the other?"

"Not in the beginning, no. I mean, we have the drugs, but we might get more detail if do some mind games on them. Draco first I think, he knows that we have him." He quickly relayed to Harry his one-sided talk to the little ferret.

"What about his injuries?"

"I healed his broken legs and put a No-Smell Charm on his minerals."

"Cruciatus to the minerals, yikes. Anyone but Draco……"

They shared a mild chuckle as Bill turned to Bender and Arthur, who were standing next to Lucius.

"Put him over in the corner, with a cloak over him. Make sure he can breathe properly, but we don't want Draco to know that he's not the only Malfoy down here right now." He watched as they did it, and the two of them stood in front of the lying down body just to make sure. While they were doing that, Flitwick was conjuring up a chair for Draco, and McG lifted him into it, transferring the ropes around him to fit around the chair. Bill turned to Slughorn:

"You have enough Veritaserum, Horace?"

"I have ten doses ready, which should be more than enough for the two of them. I can have more in a week, or less time if we go through a black market broker that I'm acquainted with."

"Ten should be enough like you said, hopefully we won't need to go to anyone on the outside. Before we begin with them though, is there anyone who's feeling a bit queasy about all of this? You know what has to be done here."

Neville was the one to say what many were thinking:

"Are we going to hand Draco over to the Parkinsons after this is all over? We never made that part of our bargain with them."

Anson had the good sense to keep quiet right now, and Bill dutifully ignored him as he answered Neville.

"Our position toward Draco remains the same: Unless he has done something beyond that pale that we don't know about, then he is to be let go. Whatever happens to him after that, is not our concern. Now, is everyone ready?"

No one indicated that they weren't, so at Bill's gesture, Harry pointed his wand at Draco:

"Enervate!"

Draco was a bit groggy at first, but he woke up immediately. He wiggled his head about until his eyesight cleared up. That's when he saw the people surrounding him, and who they were.

"What the hell have you done Potter? You can't just kidnap people from their own wedding!" The voice had just a touch of panic in it, but only if you were listening closely.

"Yet we just did, didn't we?" Harry was grateful at his foe's attitude, it was making things easier on him. He was hoping for some threats now. Speaking of which:

"Father will have the entire organization battering down your door any minute now……..where are we?" His field of vision was limited, though he could see that they were all in a very large room. His first thought was of Hogwarts, but there weren't any rooms this large other than the Great Hall………or so he thought.

"Someplace that your father can't get to, even if he knew that you were gone. You see, while you are a married man, you didn't stand at the altar." Harry loved the look of confusion on his prisoner's face.

"Come again?"

Harry had pocketed the wedding ring just in time, right as he got to the Hogwarts main doors and before anyone could see it on him. He pulled it out now, and put it on Draco's ring finger.

"Congratulations, the new Mrs. Malfoy sends her regards."

Harry waved Anson forward, and the older man came closer to his brother-in-law, smiling all the while.

"Hi there Draco."

Draco's reply was very profane, and suggested what Anson could do with his mother.

"You're lucky, they won't let me torture you again, though it was tons of fun the first time. But it's worth noting that I'm not in trouble for doing it that first time. They all just shrugged and agreed that you had it coming. That's the kind of dislike that you generate."

Draco could see that, everyone was either smiling at him, or looking sternly at him, but the smiles were not there to make him feel better.

"So was Pansy in on it?"

Bill took that one:

"She was happy to help us when we asked her to. You really should have taken Harry up on his offer."

It took Draco a moment to assimilate the fact that his bride had helped put him in this predicament. He had never loved Pansy, true, but he had not treated her so badly, had he? It was hard to take, as he returned focus to Bill's last statement.

"It was a false offer and you know it. The rest of you would never have backed him up on it."

"You'll never know, will you?"

"Where am I?" He thought that there was no real downside for them to tell him, so they might actually do it. No such luck though.

"None of your business. You're our prisoner, and your dear father isn't coming to get you, that's what you need to know."

"He'll find me." Draco had never been more sure of anything in his life.

"Your faith in your father is very touching. Would you bet your life on that rescue?" Bill had never had a conversation with Draco Malfoy, but he was relishing this first one.

"Of course." Draco spotted the trouble a split second after he said that, realizing that Bill wouldn't have said what he did without something up his sleeve.

"Then Ron will have some fun later. Dad, if you please."

Arthur levitated the prone form of Lucius Malfoy up and hovered him in front of Draco, whose jaw nearly hit the ground.

"That's not him, you used polyjuice."

He didn't really believe that, and now knew that his life was in serious danger unless he could talk his way out of it. He could see Ron grinning at him from the right, and his heart sank a little. Draco had always known that a reckoning with Ron was coming at some point in the future, be it for Weasley is Our King, or a lot of other things. But before, he had always relied on Hermione's sense of morality to keep her man in check. Now Ron was no longer her man, and was not likely to listen to her on much of anything.

"Strictly speaking, your father did not find you, since we took him right along with you. He did see you get married though, or the person he thought was you. A nice moment for him I thought, I was watching from the last row."

"What do you want from me?" Draco was getting scared now, he didn't really know anything that his father didn't, and Lucius knew a lot more. He had rather chafed at times at being kept on such a short leash, but it was proving to be very dangerous right about now, especially if they decided that he was no longer needed.

"What do you think we want? Information of course. But not now, we'll question your father first. Or are you thinking that your mother will come and get you? Narcissa Black Malfoy, leading a force of repatriated Death Eaters into our hidden stronghold to rescue her darling boy." Bill smiled at the thought of that, much like Harry had when daydreaming about the Order dive bombing Parkinson Manor earlier in the day.

Draco now knew that he was the proverbial toast, they must have her.

"Where is she?"

"Not available right now to talk to you. Did you know that she's been in Harry's office almost every Monday for the last two months, playing with Teddy Lupin?" Bill had been daydreaming for weeks about the moment when he sprung this little bit of trivia on the Malfoy men.

"She would never do that to me, she would never turn on us." He even sounded like he believed it.

"Even after your dear father killed her sister in cold blood? In fairness though, she was convinced that once Lucius was dead, she could at least bring you round to neutrality."

"This cannot be happening." Draco thought that one more revelation might really send him round the bend.

"If it makes you feel any better though, she did not know about our little party here, nor did she help us with your kidnapping. Anson and Pansy were more than enough help, thank you for driving them over to us."

"They're worthless traitors, our people will take care of them."

"Oh we'll be getting to all of that, but I still doubt it. Your bride and her brother have proven to be pretty clever all in all. They've been working with us for over a month without you having the slightest inkling, and they've done a couple of other things that even we didn't know they could or would do. I like their odds personally, especially with us helping them. A more benign True Voice might be possible. Get at the ballot box what you proved incapable of getting by force."

"I really have to sit here and listen to you brag?" Part of him was just wishing that they would kill him and get it over with, he sounded defeated.

"You would be doing much worse to any of us. In fact, you did. Your aunt tortured Hermione here and you didn't lift a finger to stop it. You people kept Luna prisoner while blackmailing her father, a man that wanted nothing more than to entertain our population with his inventive fiction. You got messed up by Anson, again without my prior knowledge, but you would do much worse. Now do you have anything to say before I knock you out? We really need to talk to your father."

"Sod off fool, just kill me and get it over with."

"If only it were to be that easy for you my friend, if only it were that easy. Sleep tight. Stupefy!"

The blast from Bill's wand was close enough that it not only knocked Draco out, it knocked his chair over, they had not rooted it to the floor as they had done for Percy. Draco's head hit the ground with a thump, but it was nothing life threatening. They moved him away, wanting to spring the same kind of surprise on his father.

Meanwhile, at Parkinson Manor:

Castor Parkinson was presiding over what remained of the wedding reception, a bit over half the guests had departed soon after the happy couple had. Lucius and Narcissa were still nowhere to be found, and Castor was now wondering if they were perhaps enjoying some physical activities in one of the guest bedrooms. Very odd, but certainly plausible enough. He was bidding goodbye to another group when Fropark, the major domo of his house elf staff silently popped next to him.

"Yes?" The group was out the door, with said door closed, before Castor looked down at his minion.

"Mr. Parkinson sir, please come with me, there is something you need to see."

"What is it?" He assumed it was a drunken guest unconscious somewhere.

"A dead body sir, the Malfoy woman."

"Excuse me?" Castor didn't think that Fropark had a sense of humor, but he wasn't believing this.

"In one of the guest rooms up on the second floor."

"Does anyone else know about this? Who discovered it?"

"Eropa was the one who found her, sir. Only the three of us know right now, of course I would tell you before anyone else." A slight bit of reproach in his voice.

Which Castor tolerated, because his major domo kept the house running smoothly, and had indeed done a marvelous job with the reception.

"Show me."

The elf led his master upstairs, where they found the crime scene as Bill had left it.

Castor was careful not to touch anything, but he knew what the wands of the two Malfoys looked like, and the wands on the ground looked like those.

"Go get Mrs. Parkinson and bring her up here, like you did with me."

"Yes sir."

He was back in a couple of minutes with Decilia, whose look of shock was very genuine, and convinced Castor that she knew nothing about this. She and Narcissa had not been close, but Castor had no idea what the two women would talk about when forced to socialize.

"Oh my God."

"Yes, something criminal clearly happened here Decilia, but what? Did Lucius murder his wife? If so, why did he leave his wand?" His brain was still spinning with the possibilities.

"You should check them, to see what happened."

"Alright, but I would imagine that we won't like what we find."

Castor checked the wands, and found the Cruciatus from Narcissa's wand, and the Avada Kedavra from Lucius'. A cursory physical examination told them both that the Killing Curse had struck home, given that there were no other outside injuries, though poison could not be totally ruled out. He saw no blood on the floor or furniture, nor did anything else in the room look out of place. The window was slightly open though, another Bill invention to keep up the ruse of Lucius escaping, and not being stolen.

"The question is Decilia, do we report this?"

"What do you mean? We have to inform the Ministry, we have to find Draco to tell him!" Decilia's mind was reeling, coming off of the high of celebrating her daughter's marriage, to this.

"We have to find Draco, I agree. But the last thing I want is Kingsley Shacklebolt going through our house like a dose of salts, looking for 'evidence', I'm sure he would not stop at examining just this room. Plus, we do not want the publicity of our names being associated with whatever happened here."

"I just can't believe that Lucius killed his own wife. The Tonks woman was one thing, but this is a line that even he would not dare cross."

Castor, who was friends with Lucius in as much as the other man had true friends, decided to share something with his wife for the first time.

"I can believe it Decilia. Lucius harbored suspicions that she was about to turn on us, if she hadn't already."

"To whom? Potter and the Weasleys?"

"They are the most logical choice, yes. Potter has the money necessary to buy Narcissa's loyalty, she probably promised them that she could bring Draco along with her. Apparently she took the death of Andromeda very hard."

"I can't believe this."

"And I don't want to, but no Ministry, not yet. We'll find Draco and see how he wants to handle this."

"Do you know where the cabin is?"

"No, but Bermuda isn't that large, and the cabin will have a magical residue on it. It isn't even a cabin from what Pansy was telling me, more like a villa. Have Fropark go over to Malfoy Manor and see if the elves there know where it is and if they'll tell us. They should, but you never know. If they don't, I'll lead a team down there myself, we don't dare tell Lucius' sister yet. This has to be handled very quietly, no one else is to know."

"You don't trust Yaxley?"

Yaxley was still technically the co-leader of the movement, along with Lucius.

"Our Lord never trusted him, I don't see why I should. No, he would exploit this to his advantage. Which he still might do, but before he tries anything I want to know as many facts as I can, and that includes where Draco stands in all of this."

That had not occurred to Decilia before right now, that Draco would be forced to choose between his parents……..and perhaps between his in-laws and Yaxley, over who would take over The True Voice if Lucius did not come back.

"Draco would never turn, he hates Potter too much." She had certainly heard him say so often enough over the years.

"I know, and that is the only thing in this mess that comforts me right now. Let's go."

Back to Hogwarts:

Flitwick conjured up another chair, and Lucius was placed on it. Since he had not been tortured much before, only Bill's evidence planting use of Cruciatus, he was easier to revive.

"Enverate!"

Lucius woke up with a start, quickly jerking his head around to see where he was. He didn't recognize the room, but he recognized the people surrounding him, at home he had a complete dossier on all of the Order members.

"What is this?"

"It's judgment day Lucius, your judgment day." Bill had been tempted to let Arthur do the initial talking, his fistfight with Lucius seven years ago was still a favorite story of George and Ron at family gatherings. But ultimately Bill had decided that he didn't trust his father enough to do the job the way it needed to be done.

"I see, you got desperate enough to kidnap me." He sounded a bit bored by it all.

"We prefer the term 'going on offense', but the kidnapping thing is accurate. Aren't you going to ask where you are?"

"I wasn't really, does it matter?"

"Not in the grand scheme of things, no."

"Then do what you must, I will not beg."

This was new for Bill, this chatting with the Malfoys, and it was made even stranger for him by the contrast in styles. Draco had been a bit defiant, but mostly disbelieving of the danger and predicament he was in. Lucius, however, seemed almost resigned to his fate in a way, and Bill was very interested in exploring the reasons why.

"Do you have anything to say voluntarily before we give you Veritaserum?"

"Promise me that you'll spare my son." Said in a calm, almost detached kind of voice.

This threw more than a few Order members back on their heels, though perhaps it shouldn't have. But only Arthur, and to a point Harry, were fathers among the group, and Death Eaters or not, family loyalty still won out.

Though Bill was not moved.

"I'm sorry, but I can't guarantee that right now. If we decide to execute you though, you will join your wife in the afterlife."

Lucius' eyes went way up upon hearing that.

"You killed her? Why?" Had they milked her dry of all she knew? Or had she turned them down when asked? This was very strange.

"Pansy killed her, without our prior knowledge. She got us into the house so that we could get you."

Lucius just shook his head sadly.

"That harridan getting control of the Malfoy money. You'll soon live to regret that Weasley." He now knew why Bill would make no Draco promises, Lucius was arrogant, but pretty sharp nonetheless.

"Perhaps, but the bigger question right now is what you know. Horace, if you please."

Bill opened Lucius' mouth and Slughorn put the three drops in. They waited for it to take effect, and then Bill proceeded with the questions.

"What is your name?" The standard control question.

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Age?"

"45 years old."

"Are you married?"

"Not any longer, if what you tell me is true."

A bit of a smile coming from some of the people surrounding him, as Bill continued:

"Children?"

"One, Draco."

"Are you the leader of The True Voice?"

"No."

Gasps in the room, as Bill went for the jugular right away.

"Who is?"

"Gawain Robards."

End Chapter


	35. Not Just a River in Africa

Author's Note: It's no secret what comes first, just assume that the questions and answers you see are the highlights, not everything that's asked.

Saturday, November 29, 1999, continued

Hogwarts, The Chamber of Secrets

2:05 pm

"Are you the leader of The True Voice?"

"No."

Gasps in the room, as Bill went for the jugular right away.

"Who is?"

"Gawain Robards."

Cursing could be heard throughout the room, as even those who had predicted this to be the case, roughly half the assembled, were still mighty honked off at being right. Lucius just smiled, as Bill kept going.

"Does the rest of your organization know about this?"

"No." A hint of pride in his voice.

"Only you?" Bill thought that this explained quite a bit if true.

"Yes."

Lucius knew that he was under drugs of course, but unlike Anson and Percy before him, he had no interest in helping his interrogators by expanding on his answers. He was fully aware that they would kill him later no matter what.

"Why didn't you tell Draco?"

"The less he knew the better."

"When did you first start working for Robards?"

"In May of this year."

"How did that come about?"

"He approached me at our office in Diagon Alley, an hour later we had an understanding."

"What do you get if your side wins?"

"Money, power, unlimited freedom to do what I like to muggleborns and blood traitors like the bunch of you."

"But he's still the boss."

"He thinks he will be."

Bill mentally filed that away for later.

"How often do you talk with Robards?"

"Every weekday, most weekend days."

"Where do Kingsley Shacklebolt's loyalties lie?"

"I don't know."

"Did you ask Robards?"

"Yes."

"What did he tell you?"

Bill was now fully realizing how lucky he had been before, with Percy's and Anson's cooperation, this was like pulling teeth.

"He said it was none of my concern right now, but that I was not to lay a finger on Shacklebolt or attempt to discredit him in any way." Kingsley had largely been left of The True Voice newsletters.

"What is your theory?"

"That his loyalty is to Robards no matter what."

"So you run The True Voice on a day to day basis?"

"Yes."

"Please name all the members of your organization." Anson and Pansy had given Bill the names that they knew of, and he was interested to see which ones they had missed.

Lucius rattled off a list of 94 names, ranging from a pair of Hogwarts seventh year students to four members of the Wizengamot. There was no one that was especially shocking, and nobody on the Hogwarts faculty, or thankfully playing on the Puddlemere United Quidditch team. Neither of the Hogwarts students were ones that Pansy had met with in front of Harry, though who knew who she was corresponding with via owl post. Luna, as per habit in these things, had a Dictating Quill going, and the names were on it now. They would later find out that the Parkinson list had been incomplete, but not inaccurate.

"Did you suspect your wife of working for us?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She was very upset at her sister's death, and she was making a lot of trips that we could not track." Fenner Simmons had never reported back anything truly suspicious, but there had been those trips.

"Who ordered the death of Andromeda Tonks?"

"Robards."

A sucking in of breath in the room, and Harry walked forward a few paces for the obvious follow-up, the first question asked by anyone but Bill.

"Why?"

"To give you some added responsibilities, keep you too busy to interfere."

"Is that something that you would have done? Ordering her death?"

"No, and I tried to talk him out of it."

"He didn't go for your argument?"

"I didn't say that I tried very hard, but I didn't want any flack from my wife." Now THAT was Lucius cooperating voluntarily, for obvious reasons.

"But you got enough that you suspected her of disloyalty?"

"Yes."

"Why did Robards sit out the last war with Voldemort?"

"I don't know."

"Again, what is your theory?" Bill figured that Lucius knew the man better than anyone else in the room.

"He saw both sides as too flawed to govern properly, so he let your side and ours fight it out until a beaten down winner emerged. Then he stepped in."

This had occurred to more than one person in the room, and far earlier than today. But the one question that they were all now dying to ask Gawain Robards was this: Why Lucius and not one of us?

But that question would have to wait for another time, if it ever even got asked at all.

"What is the ultimate goal of The True Voice?"

"Total political and social domination of magical Great Britain."

"What you had before, and couldn't keep hold of?"

"Yes."

"Why would this time be any different?"

"Because it would all be legal and democratic. Most of our society shares at least some of our views anyway, we just have to get them to go the rest of the way."

"How long did you people give yourselves to do this?"

"By the beginning of 2001 at the latest."

That was still thirteen months away, and the members of the Order, everyone of whom in the room had a full time job in addition to his/her Order duties, were already getting weary of the shadow war that was going on. This was the reason that they had grabbed Lucius in the first place.

After a few more questions about how and when he met with Robards, Bill signaled to the others that the time was up. The naming of the True Voice members had taken a decent chunk of their allotted time, and Bill and Harry both wanted time to think. They could give him another dose in eight hours time, which would also give them time to gauge the Ministry reaction. One more question first:

"Do you believe that we're going to kill you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Stupefy!"

A Stunner to the chest from half a meter away will cause some damage, and if they had checked under the man's shirt, they would have see a large bruise. But they didn't.

"Horace, I don't want us to have to keep Stunning them time after time. Please get us a two or three day supply of Dreamless Sleep Potion, the regular kind, not the souped up version that you lot tried on Harry."

"I have more than enough." Slughorn, not that he would admit it to anyone, took the stuff himself most nights.

"Good. We'll stay down here on four hour shifts until this is all done. Harry, Oliver, Katie, you'll stay now, since we don't want to interfere with your very public appearances tomorrow. Likewise Hermione and Giles will be next, since their appearances at Puddlemere games have been noted in the paper." Indeed the Harry/Keenan friendship had even drawn a small article a couple of weeks previous in The Daily Prophet, though not a negative one. It relied heavily on an unnamed source widely believed within the Order to be Kingsley.

The five all agreed that it was the most logical way to do it, and Harry started looking around for someplace to set up a couch and things like that, but Bill had things on his mind first.

"Okay then. Ron, George, get back to the shop and talk to Mum, fill her in. Neville, Lisa, figure on doing the first babysitting after the next round of questioning. Fleur and I will take over from them, with Soren and Dad doing the 6:00 am shift. I'll figure out the rest of it during my own shift down here. Neither of them are to be touched unless you're giving them the knockout potion. We need them to be husks when we finish with them, then we'll deal with them. Everyone but the Puddllemere people, Hermione, and Anson, please leave now. Get some rest and something to eat. Be back here at 10:00 for the next round, except for Giles, get here at 6:00. Go." He held Fleur's hand to make sure that she didn't leave either.

Harry had left just enough brooms for everyone to get to the surface, and the last one down earlier, Neville, had rigged the entrance not to close, so they didn't need Harry to hiss it open.

Now it was just the seven of them, plus the Malfoys.

Bill turned to Anson, he didn't want this assignment to be public to the rest of the Order.

"Anson, you are going back to your parents' place and see where thing lie right now. Find out what they told The Ministry and how much investigating those people did. Now, they're going to want to talk to Draco, how isolated is the honeymoon spot?"

"Very isolated, tons of security spells on it from what I'm told. I don't know if Kingsley and company could find it even if they wanted to, and the Malfoy staff won't say a word about where it is without a Malfoy telling them." And all three Malfoys were accounted for, Lucius's sister, Anson's former mother-in-law, did not count as far as giving orders.

"All the better, but get going now and come back to Hermione's office when you're done. And be ready to drink something when you do. I'm prepared to go along with your plans as I know them right now, but further addendums won't be tolerated. Got it?"

Anson was still kind of flabbergasted that more hadn't been made of what he and Pansy had pulled off. He had been expecting threats and recriminations, instead he was getting grudging compliments, with caveats to go forth and sin no more. He wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth though, and nodded his acquiescence, leaving as quickly as he could.

"Alright then. Harry, what happened during the wedding reception?"

"More of Pansy's games for the most part."

"She make any offers?" Bill wanted this out in the open now, before it started to fester at all.

"She did, she wants me to trade Hermione for her."

Hermione could not have been less surprised, and was not a little relieved that Harry flat out said it, and without a smile to boot. She couldn't help but ask though:

"And you said?"

"She didn't let me say anything, she wants to me to 'think about it', whatever that means."

"And will you?" She noted that he had not said that he refused, and that bothered her not a little.

Now Harry started to lose his temper about all of this, it had been a stressful day for him, more than anyone else in the Order.

"Oh please. Even if I was single I wouldn't do it, I'd never know if I was going to wake up the next morning. She sold out Draco, who she worshipped for years, you think she wouldn't do the same to me? You lot need to come up with a new parchment for the two of them, airtight this time. Either that, or we take care of them along with Lucius and Draco."

Dead silence in the room as everyone let that sink in. Bill led the rebuttal.

"I'm sure that they have a contingency plan for that kind of thing Harry, they wouldn't be so far out on the ledge unless they had something to bring them back in. Besides, I don't know if we want to start a killing spree right now, these two will be enough." Bill was now acknowledging that Draco would die.

"We need to protect ourselves, period. We're out on a ledge too Bill, a very dangerous one. I'm not saying we should do it, I'm saying that we need to think about it."

Bill was now a bit more worried than before, but a bit more relieved at the same time. Worried because Harry had never talked about killing like this before…….even with Lucius there had been a purpose. But he was relieved in that if Harry wanted to trade Hermione for Pansy, he wouldn't be suggesting a possible hit on the latter.

"What else did she say?"

"I told you, she made an offer, just like we thought. She was trying to get me all 'excited', thinking that it would seal the deal, that I would spend the entire week pining for her and all that." He put emphasis on the word excited so that they would know what he meant, and they did.

Bill actually started chuckling until he saw the looks on Hermione's and Fleur's faces, though those looks didn't deter Harry as he continued on, oblivious to their reactions.

"I mean, she must be under the impression that Hermione and I are virgins who haven't done more than smooch on the cheek or something, it was very disconcerting." He stopped when he looked over at the women, but the damage was done.

"Well thank you Harry, for that vivid image you've presented us with."

Harry decided to brazen his way out of it, even though he knew that he should have said that more diplomatically.

"You're welcome Hermione, and here I thought you'd be thankful that I didn't try to gloss anything over."

That did give her pause, but she still had questions.

"So she kissed you."

"More than a few times." Harry was very careful to show disgust here.

"Anything more than that?" Hermione now had more visions in her head, and she didn't like them.

"Of course not, we were in full view of the guests except for Diagon Alley, and I would have stopped anything there, since we weren't in view and I couldn't be revealed and all." He left out the hug, figuring it was harmless enough.

"And you didn't like the kissing?"

Now Harry was really on the verge of a meltdown.

"I might remind the three of you that my life was on the line! I didn't have one wand pointed at my head, I had a hundred!! I didn't sign the secrecy parchment either, so they could have drugged every little secret of ours out of me, and I'm figuring that I know most of them. I would have been sitting in a room just like Lucius is now, and I would not have died a quick death. No Dumbledore to ride to the rescue this time."

Hermione now looked a bit ashamed, while Bill and Fleur were both thinking that perhaps Harry had unconsciously encouraged Pansy into thinking that he might be amenable to the kissing and the subsequent offer. Neither thought it likely, but Bill now resolved to stay behind a bit and talk to his friend.

Oliver and Katie were just standing there watching, and staying out of it. They knew Harry far better than Fleur or Bill did, and they could see that he was about to pop. Both prayed that the others would just leave well enough alone.

And Bill seemed to recognize the need for this as well, just short of too late.

"Okay Harry, okay. No one thinks that you were a willing participant. Right?" He pointedly looked at his wife and Hermione, who both nodded in agreement.

"Gee, thanks." Harry was barely mollified.

"You're welcome. Fleur, please go with Hermione up to her office and wait for Anson. Bring the little schemer back down when he gets back, but get some Veritaserum from Horace before he gets back."

The two women left, leaving Bill with the Puddlemere's.

"Oliver, Katie, I'm not going to ask you to leave or anything, but please don't repeat anything of what you're about to hear. Okay?"

Oliver and Katie were expecting to hear just such a request to leave, but readily agreed that what was said would stay between the four of them, they wouldn't miss this for the world.

Harry's frustration was now fully out of its cage.

"I am not going to put up with anymore of this crap Bill. I was forced into that role in the wedding and I did the best I could……."

Bill interrupted him before he really got rolling.

"I know mate, I know, and so do they. Hermione's just feeling a bit territorial is all, what with all this Pansy intrigue going on." This made so much sense to Bill that he was a bit taken aback at Harry's vehement reply.

"Then she should have said something in private. I will not tolerate another public interrogation by anyone, period. I'm tired of them, about Pansy, or Teddy, or anything else. You people don't like it, you find another place to meet, and another person to bankroll your operation." Harry paid for a lot of the little things needed by The Order, including floo powder, food, and portkeys.

This was worse than Bill thought, and he knew that this was a dangerous time for the both of them. The last thing he needed was Harry pulling back, or even becoming an enemy.

"I'll spread the word, I promise. I know that you've had a lot of people picking at you, and I wouldn't like it either."

"Don't patronize me Bill, just remember what I said."

"Fair enough. Now let's talk about what to do with Pansy and Anson." He thought that this might get the angry part of Harry back in its cage.

"Drug him the minute he gets back and find out what other surprises they have in store for us."

"He's promised me that there are no others, but I was planning to do just that." He could see that Harry was calming down now.

Oliver had an idea:

"You know, they need to produce Draco to get their money…….and we have Draco." He let that sink in for a moment.

Bill and Harry had both been too busy to really think this whole thing through, but Harry now smiled.

"Yes we do, and that gives us some leverage."

"I agree, we'll find out their bank balance tonight, and if we go along with Pansy's plan, then we'll get something out of it."

"She did say that she would offer me a finder's fee if I wasn't already rich. Maybe we should get that fee, to finance some things."

Bill thought that that would be a convenient way for Harry to start disassociating himself from Order affairs.

"I agree, but it will depend on how much is in the vault, and I would want access to the Malfoy papers as well, see what is in there."

"That alone will take a week probably, and what will Robards be doing while we go through the Malfoy affairs?"

"That is our problem, and I think we can solve it if Kingsley really is not in the loop. If he has no idea that Robards and Lucius are working hand in hand, then we have a chance. If he's with them, then we're in deep dung."

Harry then had a sudden thought.

"Maybe not. Technically, the DMLE Head is Amos Diggory, and I can't see him supporting a Malfoy that helped murder his son. He could be our way in."

A few hmm's upon hearing that, and Katie made her first foray into the conversation.

"A way into what Harry? A Ministry invasion?"

"Our way into Robards' office, to grab him. We remove the head, the snake will die. Of course that didn't work the last time, but Robards does not have the power or cachet of Voldemort. The Ministry workers won't rush to die for him."

"Maybe Amos will think that he has a good thing going, and why mess it up?" Bill knew that on some level Harry was right, but the idea of counting on Amos Diggory for anything was not bringing him any comfort.

"I think he's our in, though I can't be the one to talk to him, for obvious reasons. It should be your dad, and maybe Ginny. They can double team him and get him to work with us."

"This is going to be messy though, I was really hoping that it was just Lucius and his boys."

"Me too. We have a bloodbath coming up, again."

Bill looked at Oliver and Katie.

"What do you two think?"

Both pondered this for a moment, they were used to Harry asking them this question. Oliver led off.

"You said that Robards has a four Auror bodyguard, plus some that are not in plain sight, correct?"

"Correct."

"Then we outnumber him. We go in strong at his home, with a direct assault, and before he figures out that Lucius is ours." This was typical Oliver, very direct.

"I don't have an opinion yet, sorry. I want to see what Lucius says later, and what Anson brings back." This was also typical Katie, very cautious, except when she was on the Quidditch pitch.

Bill sighed.

"Harry, at some point you're going to need to talk to Kingsley. Now he's not dumb enough to drink something you spike, but we need to find out where he stands. The problem with that is, it'll be damn near impossible to ask him without tipping him off that we have Lucius."

"Impossible is where I live, but I'm with Katie in that I want to hear the rest of Lucius' answers, and what Anson brings back."

"Of course Katie's right, that should go without saying. But figure on a meeting late tomorrow night, after dinner. That gives us another interrogation tonight, one tomorrow morning, and then a follow-up catch-all after your game, in case we missed anything. Then we'll vote on what to do."

"Not with Lucius though, he's history unless he's been under Imperious."

"I agree."

"One more thing Bill: Ask some questions at the bank, vaguely, on who gets the Malfoy money if Lucius, Draco, and Pansy all join Narcissa in death. That's a lot of money, it would be nice to see who's going to control it."

"Good idea, I can always present it as a hypothetical."

Bill looked at his watch, and then left to go see what was taking his wife and the others so long, but he wound up meeting Fleur, Pansy, and Anson right at the bottom of the chute. Anson was still shaking the dust off the wild ride down, but he was smiling as if he had enjoyed it.

"Anson, head on in there will you? We'll be along in a moment."

Anson didn't reply, he just went off in the direction of the main chamber. Once his footsteps had faded from hearing, Bill looked at the women.

"I'm only going to say this once: Be easy on Harry. This was a very stressful day for him, and questions about how much he enjoyed kissing Pansy are not helping in any way, shape, or form."

Hermione immediately revved up to protest hotly, when Bill forestalled her with a hand.

"I'm not saying that you don't have a right to ask them in private, but there is a level of your relationship that the rest of us should not be privy to, and the Pansy thing is getting up there. Harry has been constantly questioned and judged by so many of us, for a variety of reasons, and he's starting to crack from it. So just leave it alone for now."

This worked on Fleur, but had the opposite effect on Hermione.

"I'll do what I must Bill, and I might remind you that most of the judging has come from your family."

"Oh dear God. At what point have I not totally backed Harry against Mum, Dad, and Ginny? Eh? I sided with him because he was right, or at least more right than they were, and it did not exactly help my relationships with the three of them I might remind you. And for the record, he looked distinctly uncomfortable up there the entire time, I could tell that even if he did look like Draco. But I'm not going to interfere with you two, I'm just giving you a heads up."

Hermione did not reply, instead she began walking to the main chamber, followed closely by Fleur, who wanted to see what was going to happen.

Bill did not think for one second that Harry would leave Hermione for Pansy, Harry had put it right when he said that he would be wondering if he would wake up the next morning or be murdered in his sleep. But the Weasley scion did think that Harry would possibly leave her for Luna, who despite being beyond strange, was quite attractive and noticeably single at the moment. Luna had Hermione's moral center, but was more practical in nature, and was probably the furthest thing away from a nag.

What Bill worried about most though, was the reaction that a Harry/Hermione breakup would engender from his parents and from Ginny. Ginny would be gloating for months, and Molly's likely reaction combined with that would probably drive Harry out of The Order, taking Oliver, Katie, Keenan, and likely Luna, Neville, and Lisa with him. Bill knew that he had to forestall that at most any cost, so he ran after the two women, praying that there would be no blow ups.

There wasn't one yet, as everyone was waiting patiently for him to arrive. He quickly turned to the person he liked least.

"So what's going on at home Anson?"

"Not a damn thing."

"Say what?"

Everyone looked surprised, Anson had not told Hermione and Fleur even.

"Just what I said, everything there is going as normal. No Aurors have been there at all, or so I was told by my inside house elf." The one who had gotten Draco Malfoy to come upstairs.

"Is it possible that they haven't discovered the body?"

"Possible, but unlikely, the elves are most efficient, they would have been in every room checking for messes. No, they found it, and are covering it up. I didn't dare go into that room, in case my father has it locked or booby trapped. But Lucius must have been telling the truth, they really don't know about his arrangement with Robards."

Silence in the room, until Oliver asked:

"Anson, how high are your parents in the True Voice chain of command?"

"High, but not so high that they have a foolproof chance of taking it over. No, Yaxley will be the one to do that, and he's going to be a problem. Subtlety is not his strong suit really, he's more hardcore and action oriented than Lucius or Draco was. But the good thing, he's not as smart as they are. So we have that going for us, but I would still make some kind of plan to take him out at the first opportunity."

Hermione now let her disgust show.

"Oh wonderful, more killing. I should have expected nothing less from you people."

Anson surprised them all by chuckling, he was making a small wager that the outside team had not removed their names from the anti-violence parchment.

"Whatever Hermione, all we did was kill someone who was in our way, period. If you think Narcissa Malfoy's hands were clean then you are more naïve than we realized. Or was it the snogging that's making you this way?"

Hermione took a step forward, but quickly realized that her hands were tied. She looked to Harry, whose hands were readily available. But there was one problem:

"I agree with Anson that we should at least put a plan together, and I agree with Hermione that one more taunt from Anson is going to result in a beating for him. Understood?" He was looking more toward Anson than Hermione, and his hand was pretty close to the wand in his pocket.

"Fine, whatever you say, and I'm pleased that at least one of you is practical about these things. Taking out Lucius is going to hurt them in the long run, but in the short run, the gloves are going to be off."

Bill didn't want to be in agreement with Anson, but he was.

"Unless Robards can come in to assert authority right away, then yes, it'll be Yaxley. You know those people better than we do Anson, who would be Yaxley's rival?"

"No one right now, unless my parents and a few others can band together. It's somewhat of a democracy, but a forceful personality can carry the day. Lucius made the whole thing seen like it was his idea, and his 'vision', which is why we all went along with his plans, even though he was tainted by Voldemort's failure. Who knew that Robards was running him, I never would have guessed it."

"Who would Robards go to? Who would he turn to now?"

"I honestly don't know, and that's the truth. It could be my father, it could be Yaxley or a couple of others. And here's the thing: Robards might be in contact with one or more already, and Lucius just doesn't know about it."

"Well until our dear Minister makes his decision, your parents are to remain alive. Got me?"

"I'll take that under advisement." He would make no promises without talking to Pansy, but he acknowledged the wisdom in what Bill said.

"You'll do more than that. We have Draco, so no Malfoy money for your sister until we say so. I'm not saying that you can't kill your parents, that's your business ultimately. But you have to wait until the time is right for us, and since none of know Robards' thinking, we're all waiting on him."

"I'm not unmindful of your problems Bill, but it has to have occurred to you that I'm not the Parkinson in charge."

"It has, which makes me ask why you let her run you?"

"Why not? I'm getting what I want: the family money, the house, and no cares for the rest of my life. Why do you think I'm siding with you people? It's not because I believe in your cause, on the whole I prefer theirs. But they couldn't win when they had the most powerful Wizard on the planet running the show, I don't know what makes them think that they could win this time."

"But why Pansy?"

"She has ideas Bill, she's pro-active. This whole cooperating thing with you lot was my idea, I can give myself that much credit. And she was having doubts about marrying that idiot over there before I said anything to her. That said, she took my kernel of an idea and made a whole big bowl of popcorn out of it. I know my limitations folks, I could never have come up with it, with that kind of detail."

"And what if she wants the Parkinson money too?"

"We're a drop in the bucket compared with the Malfoys, trust me. They're worth 18 million gallons, give or take. I doubt my parents have ¼ of that in their vault, though the house is worth quite a bit. No, she won't need it, not now."

This all made so much sense that Bill at first didn't believe it. But Fleur produced a vial of Veritaserum, and Anson willing took the three drops, after which he confirmed everything he had just told them. It was worth the drugs just to find out that the bank balances wer e correct. But Hermione did have one, very pertinent, question.

"What are Pansy's plans for Harry?"

Harry resented this, but he supposed that he couldn't blame her for wanting to know.

"I don't know, she hasn't mentioned any beyond what was to happen today."

Which told them exactly squat, but it was to be expected, since Pansy would undoubtedly assume that her brother would be questioned. Hermione did have a follow-up though:

"Did everything she planned for Harry happen today? Or were there things left out?"

"Nope, everything happened as it should." That was the truth as he knew it, even if Anson figured that he wasn't being told everything.

Mercifully for Harry, Hermione didn't have any more questions for Anson. Bill did have some instructions though:

"Anson, pop round to the parents tomorrow for brunch or whatever you folks eat, and get an update on what's going on. Don't be too obvious, you know the drill."

"Right, report back here?" McG had given him castle privileges, reluctantly, because he was now part of The Order.

"Yeah, come to McGonagall's office and talk to her. I don't know where I'll be tomorrow, probably sleeping at noon since Fleur and I have the late shift."

"What about the morning questioning?"

"That'll just be a few of us, I'm not sure yet, let's see what tonight brings out. Now let's get some rest, and some food in us, it'll be a long night still to come. Hermione, remember to come back down at 6:00. Harry, Oliver, Katie, you guys need anything?"

"Nothing that Kreacher can't get for us, but thanks." Harry looked at the other two, who were in agreement with him.

"Okay then, we'll see you at 10:00 pm, right here, for round two."

Bill, Fleur, and Anson all started walking away, with Hermione hesitantly following them. Harry was tempted to let her go, but decided that he didn't feel like waiting for this, and thought she might not either.

"Hermione, hang on a second." He was rewarded when she stopped like magnet had hit her.

The other three continued on, while Oliver and Katie busied themselves with creating some furniture for the lot of them to relax on. They would have the shortest shift, the three of them, but then again they were the only ones working their actual jobs this weekend. Aside from McG and Flitwick, who were on duty 24/7. Harry caught up to her, they were more or less out of earshot.

"Are you really pissed at me?"

"No, not really."

"Not really? Boy, that's comforting. I had no choice Hermione, why can't you see that?"

"I don't know, it's just all very strange."

"She's just messing with you Hermione, that's all. And she's messing with Draco, you watch Anson let it slip out that I was the one who took the vows in his place. He might go into cardiac arrest just from hearing it."

That had not occurred to Hermione, who had just been thinking about Pansy and Harry snogging, and what else Pansy might want to do with him.

"You weren't tempted at all?"

Harry couldn't believe that he had to keep answering this question.

"No, of course not. I didn't resist because it would have looked out of place, and gotten people to ask why Draco looked like he was about to gag while snogging his wife. The questions would not have ended there. Now you're going to ask if I encouraged her thinking of all that." He figured that he had George to thank for that.

"Consciously, of course you didn't. But…….."

"You really think she's perceptive enough to read me like that? She was staring during our first meeting, I hadn't so much as spoken a word to her in years before that. This was her way to destroy Draco, get his money, and screw with you, all at the same time. And it seems to have worked."

"I had to ask, anyone would. Ron certainly asked it about you and me before he and I broke up."

"Ron had reason to worry, you don't. I've no interest in dating Pansy, shagging her, or anything in between. Allies? Yes, for the time being. But that will end too soon enough. I mean honestly darling, would I suggest killing her if I wanted to be with her?"

"Well……no. I know you wouldn't go so far to remove temptation."

"Just don't hex her blind when she comes back, we need those two for the time being."

"You think we should keep them in The Order?"

"Keep your enemies where you can see them."

"I guess. I can't hex her at all?"

They both started laughing a bit, and the tension seemed to be released.

"Put something nasty in her drink during the next meeting."

"Sounds like a plan. I'd better get up there now, what will you do between your shift and the interrogation?"

"I think some Teddy-time, I'm sure he's in need of some ice cream."

"You'll have a lot of Teddy-time over the next couple of months."

Harry's Winter break from Quidditch began after the next day's game, Puddlemere having the entire month of December off, with conditioning workouts starting back up again in January.

"It'll be good for us, let us bond."

After a hug that was awkward at first, but soon warmed up, Hermione went back up. Harry returned to Oliver and Katie, whereupon Kreacher was summoned and food was soon served. As they dug into their chips and salsa:

"You guys coming with Charlie, Teddy and me to Belfast on Tuesday?" For Teddy's appointment with the doctor specializing in werewolves. He told them the purpose of the trip, forgetting that he had mentioned it before.

Oliver and Katie both agreed that a road trip sounded like a splendid idea.

"How're we getting there? He can't take a portkey can he?"

"That's the cool part Oliver, we're taking a boat. I don't think he's ever been on one, so that'll be a lot of fun. We'll drive over to the port on Monday and stay over, taking the boat in the morning. The appointment's not until 3:00 pm, so we have time." He was pleased that they so readily agreed to come, Harry liked spending time with these two.

They spent the rest of the time eating, drinking sodas, and speculating about the next day's game. Nothing was mentioned about Lucius or Draco, even Pansy and Anson were unofficially off-limits. Instead it was three hours of shooting the breeze. Hermione and Keenan relieved them at 6:00 pm sharp, both of them loaded down with papers to grade and lessons to plan, things that they would have done during the day at some point anyway.

This time the hug, and a kiss, was not awkward, and Harry was relieved in many ways as the three of them made their way up the chute on their brooms. They parted ways at Harry's office, with the two of them flooing to their flat, with Harry going to 12.

Harry rolled out of the floo and dusted himself off, looking around the living room. No one was there, and the house was quiet. He wandered up to Teddy's room, and found the boy himself and Ginny doing some coloring on a large sheet of paper spread out over the floor.

"Well look at our current and future Picasso's."

He looked it over, and it was quite the mess of color, but he liked that Teddy was having fun with it. Ginny seemed to be too, and she smiled up at him.

"Hey there, how was your shift?"

"Nice and boring. Things okay here?" He knelt next to Teddy and ruffled his hair, getting a hug in return.

"Yeah, I told Charlie to go get some dinner for himself, he's had a long day."

"Well it's not over yet, but I hear you. You eat?"

"We had some sandwiches a little while ago, this little guy just loves his peanut butter and jelly."

"I buy it in bulk. Hey, Teddy want ice cream?"

"Yeah!" Teddy always wanted ice cream.

"Let's go then." He picked his godson up and hoisted him up on his shoulder.

"You are getting heavy, I don't know how much longer I can do this. C'mon Ginny, let's go, our ice cream place serves pizza too."

Ginny was always ready for ice cream and/or pizza, so the three of them walked to the front door of 12, which did not get used that much.

"Harry, you think that they have anyone out there?"

"I really don't care right now, let them try something. But have your wand ready, just in case, and for the love of God don't let him grab it, he made the first wand grab the other day, going for Neville's. Thankfully he missed."

"Gotcha, wand ready, but out of reach."

The three of them left via the front door, and had an uneventful walk over to the restaurant where Harry took Teddy at least twice a week, usually with a Weasley, Luna, or Hermione with them. They put in their order, and got Teddy belted into his kid's seat.

"So, you mind if I ask you something Harry?"

"Shoot." He was sure that this was going to be about Hermione.

"How much flak did she give you about Pansy?" Charlie had told her about the wedding in more detail once they got back to 12.

"Not as much as I'd feared, I think I convinced her that I had no choice."

"Between us, did you like the snogging?"

Harry supposed that he couldn't blame her for asking, but he was all too aware that it wasn't just going to be between the two of them if answered wrong.

"No, I didn't. Kissing under duress isn't fun, or so I found out today, and it helps that I didn't like the person kissing me."

"That would be key, sure. Hermione will be fine, she just gets proprietary at times. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now, what with all of us that she has to share you with." For years Hermione had only had to share Harry with Ron, one reason that she had dominated their lives for so long. But now was a lot different.

"We do seem to have a lot of people around, yeah. At first it was just Neville and me in the house, and then things just kind of multiplied. Teddy, then Hermione, George and Ron, Charlie. Weird." He was happy about it for Teddy's sake though, as the lad always had a playmate.

"How many bedrooms do you even have left?"

"Two, plus another room that can be converted. Why? You want one? Just say the word."

Ginny was now a bit taken aback.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not? You're great with Teddy, and I did rather overreact to the attack thing, so I owe you one."

This was a first, Ginny almost couldn't believe it.

"Well that's big of you, thanks."

"I got Kingsley to remove the letter of reprimand from your file, or at least he claims he did it, you never know with him." Harry had had a fit of conscience about that, and had asked his Head Auror friend to do it on the sly.

Ginny now had something to ponder. George had told her that she had to be out of WWW by the end of the year, while he liked living at 12, he wanted his own place, and his own privacy. So there would actually be three bedrooms up for grabs. She liked the idea of being around Teddy more, Ginny being the youngest had missed out on having a little brother or sister to mess around with.

"Let me think about it, but just promise me that you're not doing this to screw with Mum."

"I had my fun there with Charlie, no need to go to the well too often. Just babysit Teddy like you've been doing on occasion, and we won't worry about rent and all that." He wanted as little to do with Molly and her judgments as he could, her recent silence only made him more irritated for the next one.

Now Ginny was really going to think about it, free rent and the chance to perhaps…….hmmm.

Their pizza came, and they ate in relative silence, with Teddy making most of the noise as they fed him bits of pizza. The staff, all of whom knowing Harry and his generous tips by now, marveled at the string of attractive women this kid seemed to have on call all the time. They had seen Hermione, Luna, Katie, Fleur, and now Ginny in with him and the boy they presumed to be his son.

As they were eating their ice cream for dessert, Ginny came out with a concession.

"I overreacted too, that day at work. I should have just screamed at you during lunch."

"What I don't get is why Ron didn't try something."

"He didn't want to behave like you lot thought that he was going to, plus…….oh hell, even he knew that he and Hermione didn't fit. I can only imagine the tug of war that would have happened with their kids."

"Ron's great with our boy here." Saying Teddy's name was a guaranteed method of getting him to start chattering. But doing it obliquely kept him not paying attention to the adult talk, and concentrating on his food.

"Yeah, as an uncle and babysitter, sure. But eventually he would have chafed under all that responsibility."

"Interesting, I never thought about it that way."

"You seem like you were born for this though, parenting."

Harry was quickly trying to think if this was the first compliment that Ginny had paid him since his getting together with Hermione.

"It's easy with him though, I lucked out with such a great kid."

He checked his watch, still 150 minutes to go until round two with Lucius, and he stifled a yawn. Yeah, that's what he needed, a quick nap before all the hullabaloo started up again. The three of them walked back to 12, with Harry and Ginny being more relaxed around each other than they had been all calendar year.

End Chapter


	36. Extreme Measures

Saturday, November 29, 1999, continued

Hogwarts, The Chamber of Secrets

10:00 pm

Everyone was assembled, for what Bill was planning to be the last total group interrogation, the rest of them would be with only a few key people. But before they started, he turned to Anson.

"Look, we have our deal and we'll stick to it, but I have to make him believe that Draco could come out of this alive. We might get more nuance from him if that happens, and it certainly can't make him less cooperative."

"I get it, say what you have to say to him." Anson knew that his only real worry here was Obliviation, and even then not right now. His and Pansy's pensieve memories would be worth a lot to Gawain Robards if Bill and company betrayed him. But Anson was still waiting for the other shoe to drop here.

Bill woke Lucius up, and the older man blinked a bit.

"I'm still alive, fancy that." A trace of irony is his voice.

"For now." Bill knew better than to have him and Harry play good cop/bad cop with Lucius, so he kept his tone of voice business-like throughout.

"I know you're going to kill me Weasley, you don't dare try and Obliviate me or some other nonsense." A curious mixture of defiance and resignation, all within one sentence.

"Will Robards try to rescue you?" Bill didn't deny Lucius' impending death, though it did give him an idea for later.

"One assumes that you have a cover story in place for my disappearance, so probably not." When he had time to think, Lucius could admire their little plan.

Bill wondered about that, what Robards currently knew about the situation and what he didn't know was driving him crazy. But there was nothing else to do but go forward.

"What instructions do your house elves or employees have if you go missing?"

"The elves are only to let family in, while my employees have no hard and fast instructions."

"Does family now include Pansy?"

"Yes."

Bill wondered about that too, but he motioned to Slughorn to come forward with the Veritaserum.

"Any voluntary cooperation you give us will go easier on Draco. Yes, you're a dead man at the end of this……..but he doesn't have to be."

"And your deal with the Parkinson brats?" He couldn't see Anson, who was standing directly behind him.

"Can be altered, if we want it to. We didn't want your wife killed, for example. The two of them are a bit wild, and like you are, we're not enthused about them becoming so rich." Bill was praying that Anson would go along with this like he had promised.

"You will regret allying yourselves with that pair, mark my words."

"Consider them marked. Now open wide." Bill did find it curious that Lucius seemed more upset by the idea of Pansy and Anson getting his money than by his own death.

To the surprise of many, Lucius did open wide, and the Veritaserum was put in.

First, Bill wanted a list of every Malfoy retainer inside The Ministry. He assumed that there would be some that were not involved in The True Voice, and was proven correct when Lucius rattled off a list of two dozen, none of whom were True Voice members. Of the major departments only Arthur's Muggle Affairs Office was spared, with the DMLE having four Malfoy people, though none in the Auror cadre. These 24 people would be the subject of the next interrogation, in detail.

But what everyone really wanted to know was about Robards.

"What is Robards giving you that you couldn't get yourself?"

"Information."

"What kind of information?"

"All sorts, where important figures live, what the wards are on their homes, their associates. He also lets me know if the Aurors or other DMLE investigators get too close to anything that we are doing."

"So you have files on everyone?"

"We have the same files on our population that The Ministry does.'

"Where are they?" More than anything Bill wanted those files destroyed.

"In a secure room in my house."

"Where, exactly, is the room?" More teeth pulling, though Bill was getting used to it.

"On the top floor, northwest corner."

"Who has access to it?"

"I do."

"No one else?"

"No."

"Who knows about it besides you?"

"Draco is aware of the room, but does not have access to it."

"Tell us how to get around your wards."

Lucius then gave them instructions on how to cancel the four different security wards on the room.

While he was doing this, Bill resolved to head over there the moment Pansy got back from Bermuda. With her along, they wouldn't even need to sneak into the house, and the elves would have no cause to interfere. After he was done, and a few more questions about the wards, Bill changed tack:

"Why did you not have Harry Potter killed by the Parkinsons?"

"There was no point to it yet, he would become a martyr like Dumbledore. Also, we weren't sure that he could even be killed by magic."

That had occurred to Harry and a few others in The Order as well, but no one wanted to put that to the test.

"Who is 'we'?"

"Robards, myself, and most of our leadership."

"So you wanted to drive down his popularity?"

"Yes."

"Why do you think it didn't work?"

"Of course it worked." Lucius looked vaguely insulted.

"How do you figure?"

"The latest popularity poll at the Quidditch store has Potter as the tenth most popular player in the league, quite low for someone who defeated the Dark Lord and saved us from his reign, not to mention that he is the best Seeker in the league."

"That's all you're basing that on?"

"We have time Weasley. What's the old saying? Rome wasn't built in a day. Well neither is this."

Bill was suddenly very tired, and the idea of going to live in France, which did not have a tenth of Britain's political intrigue, was becoming more appealing with every day. He decided then and there to go for the second jugular of the day:

"What we really want to know Lucius is this: Why? Why not leave well enough alone. You lost the last war, and barely got scratched in the process, you could have just lived in your luxury and retired."

"It's easy for you to say that Weasley, since you people won, you do not have the taste of defeat in your mouths as we do. Though you won on a fluke, and because Voldemort did not lead us well."

"What did he do wrong?" Bill could spend an hour listing his own reasons, but he wanted the perspective of someone on the other side.

"Hogwarts should have been purged of any Dumbledore loyalists, including McGonagall and Flitwick. Plus some of the older families should have been eliminated, like the Longbottoms and you Weasleys. Those two, combined with the teachers and other Potter fanatics ultimately won the war. If they had been eliminated from the outset, the Battle of Hogwarts would have gone much, much differently."

"Why didn't he order the Longbottoms and Weasleys eliminated?"

"Pure blood is pure blood, there are so few pureblood families left that he felt that we cannot afford to liquidate even the Weasleys."

"And the Longbottoms?"

"They turned because of Potter, they had always been neutral before. But Potter brought something out in Neville Longbottom, and they declared for him."

"Did you know that Neville could have been the child of the Prophecy?" Neville had made a point of asking Bill to put forth this question.

"Not until after the Dark Lord's death."

"How did you find out?"

"Shacklebolt shared it with me at one of my probation meetings."

"What was your reaction to the news?"

"A bit of regret, and some harsh words for the ghost of Snape. He should have shared this with us, and with our Lord. Young Longbottom has proven capable, but he is no Potter." Lucius was now expanding his answers, falling into the trap that Bill had set for him. When a man is asked his views on something, or especially why something did not work, he cannot help but give his opinions in detail, regardless of what any drugs might be compelling him to do.

More than a couple of people turned to look at Neville as Lucius said that, but he just shrugged. Later on he would say that it was quite a trip to hear a Malfoy call him capable. But Harry was now curious about something.

"Did you lot ever try to locate me when I was a child? Before Hogwarts?" Dumbledore had sworn to him that the only magical people who had known even what city he was in before Hogwarts were McG, Hagrid, Mrs. Figg, and Dumbledore himself. Even Fudge had not known, according to Dumbledore.

"No."

"Why not?"

"We had not dreamed that you would be so easy to find, right out there in the middle of muggles. It was assumed that Dumbledore had smuggled you out of the country."

This told Harry quite a bit, and he snuck another one in there.

"Did Draco ever tell you that he met me in Diagon Alley, the day after I found out that I was a Wizard? We were at Madam Malkins getting our robes fitted."

"No, he didn't." Lucius' eyebrows went way up upon hearing that, and if he somehow got out of this catastrophe he would have words with his son, if Draco too escaped. Harry taunting him about it didn't help matters.

"Yeah, I was right there, and alone too, Hagrid had gone off to have a pint. All alone Lucius."

"Oh sod off." He couldn't help but think briefly of what might have been.

Bill enjoyed the disgruntled expression on his prisoner's face.

"Who will take over for you, once they decide that you're not coming back?"

"Yaxley, I would imagine."

"You don't sound enthused about that, why not?"

"He has the tactical instincts of a pile of mud." The smiles that that remark engendered didn't make Lucius feel any better.

"Young Anson told us that you yourself made Yaxley the co-leader, why did you do that?" Anson was still out of sight, and as far as Lucius knew, out of the room entirely.

"Because he was my main rival, and when you have rivals you either co-opt them, or eliminate them. He is very influential with certain members our view of thinking, so I co-opted him."

"Tell us about Yaxley, where does he live?"

"In a small estate outside of Bristol."

Bill spent the new few minutes getting the skinny on their new rival, including his job, personal habits, and history within The True Voice as well as the Voldemort days. The man had no wife or children, and his interests seemed to be totally devoted to his True Voice duties and his day job, Yaxley didn't even like Quidditch.

"Excellent, thank you Lucius. Now, since we're talking about this kind of thing, let's go into Gawain Robards a bit. Where does he live?"

"In London."

"Where? An address if you please."

Lucius gave him the house number and street name in an upper middle class neighborhood.

"So he lives around muggles?"

"Yes."

"Do you know this officially, with him telling you? Or did you have him investigated?"

"The latter."

"Where are your files on Robards?"

"In the locked room."

"Did you ever have contact with Robards before Pius Thicknesse became Minister?"

"Yes."

"Let's talk about that: When did you first meet him."

This started a line of questioning that established that Lucius had known Robards for years, but that the other man had not been a known Voldemort ally, at least not to Lucius. It was more a passing acquaintance rather than a long-term friendship.

"When are you due to meet him next?"

"Monday morning at 10:00 am." He was unclear on what time of day this was, or even what day.

"Where?"

"His office."

That was all the time that they had left before Robards starting asking questions, assuming that the Parkinson parents continued to resist going to The Ministry. Bill looked at his watch, and found that only about a minute remained in his questioning time. He took a deep breath and prayed that what he was about to do would not blow up in his face.

"We don't have much time left in this session. Is there any kind of deal that you wish to offer us? One that will spare your life?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"My life is over anyway. Even if I escape, my compatriots will assume that I spilled everything to you, and they will kill me themselves."

"You could leave Britain, surely exile would be better than death?"

"I will not be driven from my homeland."

"Fair enough, I can respect that. We're done for now, open wide again and we'll give you a sleeping potion."

Lucius was a bit surprised that he would not be Stunned, but dutifully opened his mouth and drank the drought that Slughorn gave him. He fell asleep within seconds, slumping in his chair. Bill left him where he was, and turned to the others.

"Look, I had to ask." Bill could tell what some of them were thinking.

Arthur was the first to respond.

"Did you have a deal in mind? Was there something you were hoping that he would offer?" Money was all Arthur could think of, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Anson thinking the same thing.

"Yes, but I don't know what it is. That's what I want him to tell us, the information that we don't have or even know to ask about."

"Then perhaps we need to leave him alive for awhile longer."

"My thoughts exactly Dad, there's no hurry right now, and it might be necessary for someone to impersonate him at Malfoy Manor. Anyone want to argue?"

Ron, predictably, and Soren, less so, were against that. Soren's argument.

"He's too dangerous to leave alive, and we need to be able to tell the Aurors that we don't know where he is. Yes, that explanation will be toast the moment they drug us, but there's a good chance that they won't. What I'm really saying is, this is not the time to be clever. We have our enemy where we want him, let's end it."

Ron's:

"The longer we hold him, the more risk there is that something will go wrong. Plus, if we kill him in front of Draco, it might get our old friend to spill some things that we don't know about."

Bill didn't much care for either point, but addressed the former Auror.

"Soren, do you have any contacts within Auror Command that you absolutely trust?"

"Not with this, no." She was shaking her head vehemently.

"With any part of it?"

"Not with any of it. I have friends there sure, and if I want to have a butterbeer or a coffee with them, they'll come. But they'll report anything suspicious that I say, I'm marked because of my membership here. I'm not complaining of course, I could just as easily have said no."

"I was afraid of that. Dad, what about a visit to your old friend Amos Diggory?"

"I don't know Bill, that would be a very tricky conversation if he's onboard with Robards." Since Lucius' revelation Arthur had been trying to decide if Diggory would be working with The Minister in that way, but he couldn't come up with anything that he was sure about.

Hermione now chimed in.

"That's why we shouldn't risk it, we need Arthur there in The Ministry. Even if he's under suspicion he can pick up little details and things."

Arthur had been afraid that Bill was about to insist, and looked at Hermione gratefully.

Bill didn't back off completely though.

"Well think about it Dad, think of a way you could do it, for later on. Something I want everyone to think about: What to do about Robards. He has Ministry resources at his disposal, so a long-term solution is no solution at all. We need to take him out quickly, and I mean before the end of the year. That's how long we have to make our plan and then execute it."

Neville had an idea.

"Can't we send Lucius to that meeting under Imperious? It would give us a delay, and he could just tell Robards that he's going out of the country for a week."

Bill turned that over in his mind for a few seconds, and liked it. He could see that the others did too.

"That's a great notion Neville, with only one problem: Does Lucius have a strong enough mind to resist it? None of us are experts in the using of it, and it could really backfire on us……..let me think about it, but it could work, yes it could." He then let out a medium sized yawn, it had been a long day.

"Alright, everyone get some rest. Neville, Lisa, you're staying until 2:00 am, followed by Fleur and myself, then Dad and Soren. Ron and George, you'll take over from them at 10:00 am, with Ginny and Luna doing the shift after that. The next round of questioning will be at 8:00 am, but only Fleur, Dad, Soren, and myself will need to be there. Everyone else should be sleeping if you can, so goodnight."

Bill shooed them all off, but motioned for Harry, Anson, and Ron to stay behind with him and Fleur. Neville and Lisa took a look at the furniture that the previous shifts had set up, and went over to do some modifying. But Bill first looked at Anson.

"Do the visit with your parents like we said, and come back here. We'll be at the game by 1:30 pm, so if it's during that, just tell McGonagall."

"Got it. Anything in particular you want me to fish for?"

"Well find out if they're going to go looking for Draco."

"You want me to be a part of that search?"

Bingo.

"Oh my yes, and thanks for thinking of it. Yes, by all means, volunteer for Draco duty." He hoped that Anson would be clever enough to steer the search party away from Pansy.

"I'll owl you at the cottage if I do."

"Good deal."

Anson took off, and Bill next went to his brother.

"Ron, no messing with Draco or Lucius while you have them."

"Can I taunt Draco? Please? I won't touch him I promise."

Bill pondered that for a second.

"Fair enough, but don't let anything slip, or say that Harry took his place at the wedding, I want to hit him with it."

"Alright, I can handle that." Ron left too, giddy at the thought of this first bit of payback.

Now it was just Fleur, Bill and Harry.

"Harry, what do you think of Neville's idea?"

"Well it's like you said, it has to be just right, or we're finished."

Bill walked over to the entrance-way of the main room, where Neville and Lisa couldn't hear what he was about to say. Harry and Fleur followed him of course, eager to hear what must be a wild plan.

"I think we've found our way of getting rid of Lucius, for good."

"What are you talking about?"

"We do the Imperious, and have one of his instructions be to kill Robards."

The air seemed to be sucked out of the area for a moment. Fleur responded first.

"But Robards has his bodyguards there, like Malfoy said."

Malfoy had told them that Robards put a Silencing Bubble up so that his two guards couldn't hear what was going on, but they were ready in case Lucius was so stupid as to try a hit.

"I'm not saying that he'll get him, he likely won't. But they'll kill him in the process."

"What if they don't kill him Bill? What if they just Stun him and put him drugs like we just did? Then we'll really be in deep shit."

Bill hadn't thought about that part, and was now a little pissed.

"You're right, damn. Well think about that scenario and what we can do with it. It'll have to be one of the three of us to do the Imperious anyway."

Harry then had a revelation of sorts.

"What about having Lucius kill Yaxley?"

More pause in the air, as the Weasley couple were now both smiling.

"That would work, Yaxley wouldn't be expecting that. Or better yet, have Lucius lure Yaxley into a trap, whereby we can grab him."

"How many more interrogations are we thinking of?" Harry was thinking of their dwindling supply of Veritaserum.

"Two of them tomorrow, then we'll see after that. The Ministry people will be tomorrow morning, and maybe the one after that. Then we have to decide what to do with them."

"What about Draco?"

"Questioning him? We'll do it after we're done with his father, I can't imagine that he knows a lot that his father doesn't. But we'll be thorough. Right now, you need to go get some rest and be ready for your game, appearances need to be kept up."

"Okay Dad."

"Funny boy you are, now go do something with your girlfriend."

"Oh shut it." He was half smiling as he said it, but Harry was not really looking forward to his home reunion with Hermione.

The three of them said goodbye to Neville and Lisa, and went up the chute, and over to Hermione's office. Bill and Fleur took the floo to their cottage for a nap, while Harry went home, where Merlin knows what awaited him.

Turned out it was a quiet house, as Charlie and Ron were in the game room messing around with the computer, and George had not returned home yet. Harry went upstairs to check on Teddy, and found his godson clutching his teddy bear and murmuring something in his sleep about jelly. Satisfied that everything was fine on that front, Harry opened his own door, where Hermione was getting undressed.

"A bit early to be going to bed isn't it?" He admired the view for a moment though, and started getting ready for bed himself.

"We had a long day, and I just want to relax. How are you holding up?" Her look was nothing more than loving concern.

"Tired, stressed, everything related to the two." Hermione was a not so small part of that, but he didn't mention this.

"What do you think will happen tomorrow?"

"We'll stomp the Magpies, that's all I'm confident about. Everything else will be a mess." He was looking forward to the game, if only as a means to distract him from his current troubles.

"What did Bill want?" She didn't mind being left out of that kind of thing, given that she made sure that Harry told her everything anyway.

"Some ideas on what to do with Lucius." He told her about them, wanting her reaction.

"I like the Yaxley one, if we get him, we'll have a clear picture of what they're doing."

"I think that's the one we'll go with, though we'll have to either do it by fiat or massage the meeting." He was no longer shocked by any Hermione reaction, but the old Harry would have been mildly so by her interest in kidnapping another person.

"You don't think that the others will go along?"

"I think the older ones will want Lucius disposed with no muss, no fuss, and Ron will go along with them. But if we can use him, we should."

"Then kill him?"

"Then kill him, if anyone in this conflict deserves it, it's him."

"More than Robards?" Hermione was one of the people who had disbelieved the Robards is bad theory, this day had been one of revelations for her.

She slid under the covers, only the lamp was lighting the room now.

"Robards sat out the last one, a war that I still haven't forgiven Lucius for. He could have turned Robards down, lived his life in comfort and played with his grandchildren when they came. I'm just so tired of all of this." He got into bed too, and extinguished the light. They held hands as she broached something that they had danced around before.

"Maybe we should think about leaving."

"Leaving Britain?"

"It's something we should discuss, once this is all over."

"I've thought about that, and the problem is, they would hunt me down no matter what, since I would always be a threat. We would have to live as muggles, which I won't do."

"You couldn't go back?" Hermione wasn't sure if she could or not.

"No, not anymore. Besides, Teddy might need magical help down the road, if the tests come back positive."

"What's the alternative?"

"Deal their side a series of blows that will make it impossible for them to get back off the mat."

"A killing spree?" Hermione didn't feel as surprised as she might have a few months ago.

"Yes, I believe that it's come to that."

Hermione was quiet for a moment, and he reached out for her, drawing her close.

"I'm afraid Harry, I'm afraid that we're going down their road, becoming more like them." She held on to him tightly.

"We're not my love, we're not. The difference is that we would accept peace, and they never will. This time our victory will give us security. Flitwick will be caretaker Minister until Bill is old enough to run, and both of them will make sure that this doesn't happen again. You and I will grow old together with Teddy and our own kids, I'm going to make sure of that."

"I love you Harry."

"I love you too Hermione."

Sleep was postponed for a time, as they demonstrated their love.

Sunday, November 30, 1999

Hogwarts, The Chamber of Secrets

4:00 pm

It had been a very tense Puddlemere United team that took on the Montrose Magpies in their last game of the first half of the season. Harry, Oliver, and Katie couldn't help but think about the events of the previous day, while wondering what else was coming up for them, while the rest of the team just wanted to go out on a high note. The Harpies and the Tornados, the top two teams in the league, were playing each other, so Puddlemere was going to be alone in second place no matter what happened, but everyone felt that momentum was important.

But Harry had come a long way from the thirteen year old able to be distracted by Dementors, and he desperately wanted the game over with as soon as possible, if only to give him and his two friends one less thing to think about. He flew like a man on a mission, and grabbed the Golden Snitch inside of six minutes, third quickest in the league this season. Puddlemere won 170-0, as the other players barely got warmed up.

Now the United were in second place, and Clive was full of smiles as they walked back to the changing rooms.

"Well done Harry, you looked inspired today."

"I was looking forward to our holiday sir, I wanted it to start as soon as possible." He threw his boss what he thought was a hearty smile, and it was returned in kind. Well he had been inspired, he thought, just not in the way Clive thought.

"You were magnificent, this is our year!"

Something that he said quite a bit, this being their year……..but he was looking more and more right.

"Yes it is sir, I'm with you there."

The team got their congratulations from Clive and Lenora, and they were reminded that the team's holiday party was in three weeks, with spouses/significant others and children all welcome.

Harry, Oliver, and Katie all left as soon as decorum would allow, and flooed over to 12, and then on to Hogwarts, where everyone else was assembled. Only Hermione and Giles had gone to the game, and they left as soon as the announcement was made that Harry had gotten the Snitch. Not a wise overall plan, but since no Ministry types were aware of Lucius' change in situation, no alarm was raised at the absences. Kingsley might have noticed something, but like he had told Harry, he was a Tornados fan, and was watching them defeat the Harpies and hang on to first place.

During the morning questioning Bill and Fleur had established the dealings that Lucius and his deputies within the True Voice had with the Ministry workers on their payroll. It was mostly information gathering, and Lucius had claimed that Robards only knew about half of them, the other half being Malfoy's little secret. Bill doubted all of that very seriously, from what he had heard about Robards, but it was the truth as Lucius knew it.

Draco had also had his first round of questioning, and he revealed that he knew relatively little about anything. As Bill put it to Harry later in the morning: Molly, who was on the outer fringe of the Order, knew more about it's goings on than Draco did about his own organization. Yaxley didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, they learned that too. There was to be a second round with Draco, but that was only to placate Ron and Ginny, who had demanded a tally of the ferret's misdeeds while at Hogwarts. Bill didn't see the harm in it, and was more than willing to drug Draco again if it would give his youngest siblings some closure. Ron had been very pleased with the effects of his taunting as well, and had sworn up and down that he only used his wand to wake Draco up, nothing more.

But now it was 4:00 pm, and Kreacher's food was being laid into by the Order members, all of whom were present aside from Pansy, including Penelope Clearwater and Rachel and Neil Brunsden, who generally wanted no part of Order decision making. But this was a different kettle of the proverbial fish, and Bill wanted everyone's input. Only Anson Parkinson was absent from those expected to show up, he had sent them an owl that morning saying that he was taking a trip to find something, which everyone took to mean that he was on the Draco hunt with his father and associates.

As they were all eating, Bill summarized the morning's interrogations, saying that transcripts were available for anyone who wanted them, and there was one person in particular that he wanted to read the Lucius transcript.

"Dad, you know those people, take a look at what he said and give me your impressions tomorrow."

"I will, what in particular do you want me to look for?"

"Anything that strikes you, and anyone that you think might be working for Robards or otherwise trying to scam Lucius."

"I'll come by the bank during lunch."

"Good deal. Now we have ourselves a big problem: A corrupt Minister. This isn't our first one, but he's the smartest and most dangerous, and that's a huge issue. We have three options right now, as I see things:

"Go on the offensive and start a rebellion."

"Keep going with our shadow war and get more information about what is going on."

"Some combination of the two."

Bill let that sink in for a moment, then continued.

"Now the first option is the most direct, but also the most dangerous. We would be gambling on how much control Robards really has over the Ministry bureaucracy and whether or not they would follow him. Or follow us."

"The second option is somewhat easier because it is nothing more than a continuation of what we're doing already, we're just shifting focus from Lucius to Robards. Add that to the knowledge that we'll at least know about all of our enemies, and that makes this choice the path of least resistance."

"The third option essentially means staying somewhat covert while actively engaging our enemies on a one by one or group basis, plus doing something in The Quibbler or another form of media. I'd like to hear everyone's views in turn, starting with Neville." Bill preferred starting these debates with Neville, liking the younger man's analytical mind.

"I think open rebellion worked well the first time, but we would need a lead up period to garner more support. Right now if I had to vote, it would be for option three, we should keep up the shadow war while aggressively taking out True Voice members."

"Thanks Neville. Filius?" Bill resolved to go randomly.

"I agree with Neville that any open rebellion needs to involve more than the sum of us in this room. Whatever happens, we need to begin recruiting again, and quickly."

"Interesting. Soren?"

"We don't know enough to go into rebellion yet. I vote for the shadow war, for now."

"So the status quo, okay. George?"

"Sit down with Robards and see what can be accomplished there."

There was now a murmur in the room, as the first pacifist leaning was expressed. Bill figured that his mother would have been the one to say it, but he could appreciate too that it was George.

"Calm down folks, we want to hear every viewpoint. George, you have anything you want to add to that?"

"I think we've had enough killing, and enough war. Find out what Robards ultimately wants beyond being Minister. If it's too much, then we revolt, since there won't be any other choice."

"It's something to talk about, sure. Horace?"

"I don't enjoy any of this conflict, but I agree that it's gone on too long. I agree with Neville, option three."

"Fleur?"

Now everyone really paid attention, since most people felt that Fleur was a window into what Bill and Harry really thought.

"Option three." She said no more, and folded her arms, she was going to give no more insight than that.

Around the room it went, and even Ron didn't advocate out and out rebellion just yet, though he came the closest to it. Most of the group wanted option three, with only Molly, Arthur, Bender, Keenan, and McGonagall voting for continuing the status quo, though Keenan did not sound thrilled with any of the options. Even Hermione picked the third choice, and managed to sound convincing in her arguments to boot. Eventually it got back to Bill and Harry, and the younger man spoke first.

"As tempting as it is to flat out kill Gawain Robards, I'm not risking prison yet to do it. But I agree that steps need to be taken to ensure our continuing safety. I say we grab Yaxley, find out what he knows, and then have he and Lucius, under Imperious, call a True Voice meeting to be held at Malfoy Manor, all hands on deck. Then set up anti-escape wards and we burn the place to the ground with them inside it."

More than a few gasps from the Hogwarts faculty, Weasley parents, and even the Brunsdens. Hermione wanted to gasp, and more than a few people were looking at her for her reaction, but after her talk with Harry last night she couldn't be surprised.

Bill was slightly taken aback, but decided to get his own views out there before anyone could round on Harry.

"I agree that we need to start winnowing down the True Voice roster, and take out their Ministry contacts as well. The latter should be the priority in my opinion, those people are more dangerous than the former Death Eaters. But one thing we haven't talked about yet, and I think we need to. We need The Daily Prophet on our side, there are too many people who look at it as the gospel printed every day, and their neutrality toward us needs to shift in a direction that benefits us."

The Daily Prophet had not run a hatchet job on Harry in a few years now, and generally kept their coverage of him restricted to the sports section, where it could not help but be complimentary, given his success. The Order of the Phoenix had not been mentioned since the end of the last war, and its current activities received no out and out coverage either. Neither was the Prophet a wild fan of Gawain Robards, he had fewer articles devoted to him than Fudge or his predecessors, though that could be attributed to Robards' desire to avoid publicity and his lack of a social calendar.

McGonagall did not like the idea of putting Harry on the spot here, but she quickly decided on a way to get him to do what she wanted.

"I think that Harry and I should go talk to the publisher and see what kind of arrangement can be worked out. Harry, as our society's icon, and I, as Hogwarts Headmistress, would be in the best position to make a deal. The Quirkes are entrepreneurs first and foremost, they will be receptive." The Quirkes had been after her for over a year to do a series of features on Hogwarts and its inner workings, which was one carrot she would dangle in front of them.

Atilla Quirke, grandfather of current Hogwarts Head Girl Orla Quirke, was the owner and publisher of the paper, and the editorial board was littered with his children and older grandchildren. He was also rumored to be an investor in at least one muggle Fleet Street newspaper, an allegation which he smilingly said 'no comment' when asked about. He, like Robards, had largely sat out the last war, though he published Voldemort's propaganda when the 'man' was in power, saying that he had a duty to follow the dictates of the government of the day. Quirke and Fudge had been very thick, roommates at Hogwarts back in the day. What he truly thought of Harry was very much in doubt at the moment.

Harry sighed, and ran his hands through his hair.

"I agree, set up the meeting for sometime later in the week." He didn't see the harm really, though he still didn't like publicity of any kind. Even Quidditch publicity mildly irritated him on some level, but it was in his contract that he had to help sell the sport in general, and Puddlemere United in particular.

McG did Bill the courtesy of looking for his approval, and she got it with a satisfied nod.

"Excellent, I will ask for a meeting for Thursday lunch, I have an open period then. Will you be back from Northern Ireland by then?"

"We're due back Wednesday morning, so that'll be fine." The five of them: Harry, Teddy, Charlie, Oliver, and Katie were leaving the next afternoon, and returning via boat and SUV on Wednesday, there was no hurry.

That gave McGonagall a few days to marshal her arguments against this house burning plan, though she could see why someone as direct as Harry would advocate such a slaughter.

"Excellent. Now on to the main question Bill: Are you going to send Malfoy to Robards tomorrow as planned?"

"I don't see how we can't, there's no way we can risk someone in polyjuice even if the meeting lasts less than an hour. We could delay for a day perhaps, but it's best to get it over with, throw him in there under Imperious and say that he's going out of the country for the rest of the week. In the meantime, we set up the meeting of The True Voice like Harry suggested, and we decide what to do with those people at a later time."

"When would the meeting be for?"

"Next Sunday, he told me that that is the most common day for their omnibus meetings."

McG, who felt after the Parkinson mess that she needed to take a more active role in things, would not let it go.

"Are we really going to consider Harry's idea? I can understand where it comes from, but it is more than a tad extreme."

"We're going to consider it, yes. We've been talking about picking off True Voice people, well if they're all in one place, then it will be that much easier. Or do you suggest that we imprison them down here until Robards is gone?"

"That might be viable, yes." She wasn't willing to commit to anything so definitive on the spot.

"Who's going to guard them? Feed them? For how long would we be down here? The questioning alone would take months. Plus, we would have to figure out to explain their disappearances."

"As opposed to explaining how a fire started in Malfoy Manor with none of them escaping?"

Harry had a sudden brainstorm.

"That's the easy part: We blame it on Robards, after we cut our deal with The Daily Prophet. We tip them off that it was a Ministry operation designed to take care of the Death Eater problem once and for all. Since The Ministry is in opposition to The True Voice, then Robards can't come out against it unless he shows his true colors."

McGonagall was left open mouthed, after her big plan just blew up in her face. Bender came to her rescue, to a point.

"Let's call the meeting for next Sunday, but grab Yaxley first so we'll know what we're dealing with. No final decision has to be made right now." The trouble was, Soren could see the utility in Harry's plan.

But Bill had already made his decision, Harry's idea, while bloodthirsty, was necessary. He reasoned that this was a war, and they were soldiers.

And soldiers kill the enemy.

End Chapter


	37. Dance with the Devils

Sunday, November 30, 1999, continued

Hogwarts, The Chamber of Secrets

9:00 pm

Bill, Harry, Fleur, and Neville had wrapped up the last scheduled interrogation of Lucius, more detail work than anything in the bigger picture. Harry then Obliviated the last 30 hours of activity from Lucius' brain, including all of his questioning, Draco's capture, and Narcissa's death. Once that was finished, Bill pointed his wand at his prisoner:

"Imperious!"

Bill put as much magical force into the curse as possible, and he was rewarded when the older man's eyes glazed over a bit. After taking a breath, Bill gave him his instructions.

"Tomorrow you will meet with Gawain Robards as planned, at 10:00 am. You are not to disclose that you have any instructions from us, you have been locked inside your home office all weekend doing paperwork."

There were a few more details, including where Lucius was to return to after his meeting. They were confident in the Imperious, given that the glazed over look couldn't be faked, and they had not given him much in the way of orders to boot. The more complicated the orders, the harder it was to keep the Imperious up. Anything more than this and Harry would have some real doubts, with this he just had some light, nagging ones.

Neville went home a few minutes after they were done, as Harry was sticking around to do guard duty tonight. Oliver and Katie would relieve him in the morning, but for now it would just be him, since he had no job to attend to the next day. And they wanted nothing to do with Molly doing any guarding, heaven knows what she might try to do.

Fleur, with a look to Bill, excused herself to go upstairs, and the two Order leaders were alone with the unconscious Malfoy men.

"What's up Bill?" Harry had caught the look.

"I'm not entirely comfortable saying what I have to say Harry, but someone needs to."

"Uh oh."

"No, it's nothing bad. How did things go with Hermione last night after you got home?"

Now Harry's uh oh feeling was rewarded, as he sensed some more well meaning interference.

"It was fine, why do you ask?" Harry said that very warily.

"Not for voyeuristic pleasure I promise you. But it strikes me that you might need someone to talk to, and I'm here for you."

"Thank you, but why bring this up now?" Still wary.

"Because Pansy is forcing all of our hands here, with her machinations from yesterday. Have you given any serious thought to her offer?"

Harry didn't say anything for a moment, and Bill felt compelled to add something:

"Whatever you say here is totally between us little brother, I promise, and that includes Fleur."

"I don't know that I want to talk about it at all." He doubted very seriously that Bill would deny Fleur information that she really wanted.

"And that's your privilege, I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. I just want all of this to be over."

Bill assumed that he meant the entire thing, but in his answer he chose to concentrate on the Parkinsons, he had by now concluded that Harry was considering Pansy's offer.

"We all do, and Pansy and Anson did sucker us a bit. But it was nothing that can't be fixed or touched up, and we learned some lessons there, potentially valuable ones. In all this was a good thing for us I think."

"I was afraid she was going to figure out a way to make me come on the honeymoon with her." There, he said it, and Harry felt better.

"I would have stopped that, the others would have too. Either that, or we would have forced Anson to tell us where the honeymoon spot was so that we could come get you. Besides, we had him, and she wouldn't have chosen you over him, ultimately."

"I know that, intellectually. Look, I'm not leaving Hermione for her, that's not going to happen. But……"

"She got you to thinking?"

"I don't know, I guess."

"You're 19, you're living with your girlfriend and a child and you wonder if you're missing out on things, especially when you were really not allowed to be a teenager that often."

"Am I? Missing out on things?" He figured that Bill, the wild hair of the Weasley family when it came to things like this, would know better than he would.

"I don't know Harry, only you can answer that. I waited a long time to get married, though I came close once before, though in my defense I didn't find 'the one' until Fleur. But I didn't leave Hogwarts with the relationships that you did. I just had friends, you had friends who risked their lives with you. That puts a different spin on things, if nothing else it's why you put up with Ron all these years."

This was meant to make Harry laugh, and he did.

"I asked Ginny yesterday if she wanted one of the spare rooms at 12."

That hit Bill like a ton of bricks, he thought he was finished with this particular soap opera. He rallied quickly though:

"Out of a sense of guilt?" Please let it be that, Bill thought.

"Something like that."

"How did Hermione react to that?"

"She seemed fine with it, she realizes that Ginny's better off with us than on the loose in London." They had talked about it over breakfast that morning, and Hermione had agreed without much discussion.

"You think Ginny will do it?"

"She seemed receptive, especially after I told her that I wouldn't charge her rent if she did some babysitting like she's been doing." Harry would then be letting four Weasleys live rent free, with all of them sharing nanny duties for young Teddy.

Bill had a sinking feeling that Ginny was using the Pansy mess, and Harry's guilt, to give it one more try. She had told him, truthfully, that she had not had a date since breaking up with Harry last year, and now some things made sense to the Weasley scion. He would have to head this off somehow.

"Well maybe your trip to Belfast is what you need to give you some time to think. No Hermione, no Ginny, no Pansy, just one child, two men, and a woman who's off limits." Bill thought that Oliver and Katie were very good for Harry, they were involved enough to understand what he was going through, but not so involved that they had lost perspective. Bill had long thought that Hermione and Ron had both lost that kind of perspective not only with Harry, but with each other.

Harry couldn't help but laugh, he had always thought of Katie that way, as someone who was nice to look at, as long as that's all he did.

"I know, that'll be nice. I'd like to travel more, see a bit of the world."

"There's no reason you can't do that, with Hermione or without, Hogwarts has breaks and vacations like any muggle school does after all. Look, I'm not advocating that you break up with her, not at all. I happen to think that you and Hermione make a good couple on the surface, you have just enough in common to fit, without being totally alike. But if you think you need to explore some, then you should at least consider it."

"Explore some? You mean with other women? Like Pansy?"

"I personally wouldn't with her, but I understand the allure of it: It's dangerous, and forbidden, the wife of your biggest rival wants you instead of him. I imagine that's intoxicating." And she did look good at the wedding, Bill could admit to himself. He was wondering if that was what made Harry so hesitant.

"I don't know whether it is or not, it's all a jumble in my mind."

"That's why you need time to think, that's why Belfast and a couple of nights away from Hermione and all of it will do nothing but benefit you."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Thanks Bill."

"I'm always here for you."

"Does Ron ask you for this kind of advice?"

"I think George is his guru there, which is a bit ironic. But Ron and I didn't know each other well before he stayed with us that time, and things have never really been right since."

"What do you mean by ironic?"

"This is still just between us?"

"Of course."

"It means that I think George is gay, so him giving advice about women is ironic."

"You really think he's gay? I mean I know I've been trying to get him and Luna together and he hasn't bitten……"

"Well I don't blame him there, I wouldn't fancy a lifetime of trying to translate whatever she's saying. But it's just based on things I've observed, that I've heard."

"He hasn't brought anyone home with him."

"Of either sex I would imagine. But for the love of Merlin don't ask him about it, if he's going to come out, let him do it at his own pace, in his own time."

"I would have thought that Ron would have just flat out asked him, probably in front of everyone." It sure sounded like something Ron would do.

Bill gave Harry an exasperated look.

"Right, like Ron is with it enough to pick up on that. Anyway, I'd better get going."

"One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"What do you really think of my idea to take out the Death Eaters?" Malfoy and his people didn't use that term any longer, Death Eaters, but it was how Harry was always going to think of them.

"I think it's the simplest plan, and the straightest line to victory for our side. But we'll have to overcome a lot of resistance to pull it off, and I mean resistance from our people."

"To hell with the naysayers, we should do it whatever they say."

"And I say that we need to rig a vote first. But let's see how Lucius does tomorrow, eh?"

"Alright then."

Bill left, and Harry settled in for the night. He put Alarm Charms on each of the prisoners' chairs, and fell asleep two hours later while reading.

The next day proved to be anti-climactic of sorts, as Lucius' meeting with Gawain Robards lasted a grand total of five minutes, and didn't cover anything of substance. The Wizengamot was meeting in full session most of the morning, and Robards needed to be there for it. The ruse was undiscovered, and Malfoy dutifully told Robards that he would be in southern France for the rest of the week on holiday, Bill had learned that Lucius was required to obtain permission before leaving the country as part of his probation agreement.

Bill and Harry, waiting with bated breath in the former's office, let out a collective sigh of relief when their man was safely back in custody. They forced him to issue the all True Voice summons, and copies of it were mailed off at the main post office. The note to Yaxley asked him for a meeting on Friday night at the Malfoy offices in Knockturn Alley. Now they had options, Bill and Harry did, even if they had no more answers than they had the night before.

After depositing Lucius back in his cell, Harry collected his godson and three friends, and they began their road trip.

The ride up to Liverpool was uneventful except for Teddy's chattering and the fact that they skipped half the drive, Apparating the last half after they realized that London to Liverpool was a bit far for the time that they had allotted. They left the SUV in the car park of a shopping centre with a magical anti-theft device that Harry had read about in of his books from 12's library. Apparating short distances with a small child was permissible, and Harry did four hops just to make sure that Teddy didn't get sick. Dizzy he got, but not sick, and of course the little guy loved every minute of it. They made the boat with 10 minutes to spare, and were soon off to Belfast, they would explore Liverpool when they got back on Wednesday.

Malfoy Villa, Bermuda

3:00 pm local time

The Castor Parkinson led search for Draco and Pansy involved the man himself, his son, and four other True Voice people. Only Castor, officially, knew why they were down there in the first place, the others had been told only that Draco and Pansy needed to be found.

Anson, of course, knew full well why they were being looked for, and once the six of them split up to check the 138 islands in the chain, he Apparated immediately to the villa, which by a stroke of fluke luck was on one of the islands on the list of 22 that he was to search.

He found his sister out on the beach reading a book, a Tanning Charm fully in place.

"Well if it isn't Mrs. Malfoy." He plopped down on the sand next to her.

She smiled at her brother, then frowned, what was he doing there?

"What's happened?"

"Besides Father finding Narcissa's body, yet not telling The Ministry or Yaxley?"

"You're kidding right? They're trying to keep this a secret?"

"For now, there're six of us here trying to find you and Draco, so that he can direct Father in what to do."

"And Lucius?"

"They fell for Bill's setup, they think that he probably killed his wife and took off."

"You know this for sure?"

"No, it's just a supposition, Father didn't even tell me why we were down here. And don't worry, I made sure he didn't suspect that I knew the entire saga."

"Did Lucius crack?"

"Like a piñata, he's working for Gawain Robards."

Pansy spit her drink out upon hearing that, she had been in the 'Lucius is working for himself' camp of the Order.

"Their crackpot theory was actually true?"

"Lucius admitted it under drugs. I was at the first two interrogations, the ones that dealt with the big picture, or so Bill told me." He took a few minutes to summarize what they had learned.

"Very interesting."

"How does the Robards thing impact our plans?"

"It doesn't right now, I don't think. We still need the money before we can make any more moves. Did they give a kill date for Lucius?"

"Not while I was there, Bill wanted to learn everything first, before a decision was made. I'm assuming that they'll move against Yaxley next."

"Good, we want that idiot out of the way as soon as possible. What else happened?"

"Your Harry play was quite effective, Hermione was on edge during both Saturday sessions, and I got in a nice dig." He gave her the highlights, most just his watching Hermione's body language. Anson included the fact that he had been forced to talk under the Veritaserum himself about his sister's plans.

"Good, it's all going according to plan." A total plan that only she knew right now.

"You think Harry is going to go along?"

"I planted the seed, and Granger's insecurities will add enough fertilizer. Besides, he was into it." She said this with total confidence.

"The snogging you mean?"

"Oh yes, he didn't resist in the slightest. Now he'll tell her that it was because he didn't want to be exposed, and she might even believe it. But there's no way I could have exposed him without answering some hard questions myself, and he knows it. Trust me big brother, his mouth wasn't acting." She smiled as she remembered it.

"I'll take your word for it. What's your next move?" Anson just wanted to get the subject off his sister and her snogging.

"Well that depends, do I go back with you today or do you just report that you didn't find me?" Pansy had not been asking for her brother's advice much lately, the killing plan had been hers in detail, but she figured that he was closer to the ground on this one.

"I think you should go back on your own soon, that way we can be a part of whatever decisions Bill and Harry are making."

"What did they say about Mother and Father?"

"Don't kill them yet, not until things shake out after Lucius and company are found and declared dead."

"But they didn't object to us killing them eventually?"

"No, and that's the strangest thing about this entire episode."

"What do you mean?"

"They're not mad at us for this. I mean yeah, they're mildly irritated at their little plan being shifted sideways a bit, and Hermione is beyond pissed at you. But that's it. They don't seem to mind us getting the Parkinson and Malfoy vaults, they must be rationalizing that we're a better deal than our parents and Lucius."

Pansy mulled that over for a minute, and came to the same conclusion.

"Well let's not disabuse them of that notion, we need them for the time being, if not longer. A Bill Weasley led Ministry of Magic is not such a bad idea. He's proven to be a pragmatist above all else."

"Yes he is, and just between you and me, I like the guy."

"I won't go that far, but he is interesting." Not as interesting as Harry, or so Pansy thought.

Anson had a sudden flash of inspiration.

"You know what? I think you should come back with me now, and we'll say that Draco received a letter from his father this morning and your hubby quickly took off to parts unknown to meet him. That way I can produce you, but not Draco, and Father will be satisfied."

"Brilliant, that works for us. Let's see what our loving father is willing to tell us. What time are you supposed to report back?"

"Tonight at 10:00 pm. I didn't say which island I was going to search in what order, so we have time."

"To sit on the beach I take it?"

"I need some sun."

They laughed, and Anson conjured up a chaise lounge, putting his own Tanning Charm up.

Castor Parkinson, seven hours later, was relieved to see his daughter, but quite disturbed at the sudden departure of her husband. He told his children the real reason for the search, and he confirmed his son's suspicions that only the family Parkinson knew about Narcissa's death.

"Draco didn't mention where the note told him to go Pansy?"

"No he didn't, and one look at his face told me not to ask. He simply said that he should be back in a couple of days, that there was a family emergency."

"Well at least we know that Lucius is alive and not captured, and that's something."

"Father, at some point don't we have to tell someone in authority?" Anson genuinely wanted to know the answer to this question.

"At some point, yes we do. But not now, not until we find Lucius and get an explanation."

"What do you think happened?"

"I think that Narcissa had a bit much to drink and taunted him about her working for Potter and Weasley, thinking that he wouldn't kill with so many people around."

"Do you really think she was working for them?" Pansy knew that Narcissa had been of course.

"It's the most logical explanation. Now we're going to leave Mankins at the Malfoy villa in case Draco comes back, but I would like you two to come with us back to Britain. We need to close ranks right now."

The lot of them left via portkey an hour later, and returned home to find a very troubled Decilia holding Lucius' note, calling for an all True Voice meeting at Malfoy Manor on Sunday at 2:00 pm.

Though Decilia wasn't as troubled by this as her children, who knew that Lucius was in no position to be calling any meetings. This would bear watching, but after a quick conference they decided to wait for Harry's return from Belfast to ask any questions.

Tuesday, December 2, 1999

Office of Moira Flanagan, Medi-Witch and M.D.

Number 45 Old Wain Park Road, Protestant Section, Belfast

3:50 pm

Teddy was a trooper for the entire visit with Dr. Flanagan, putting up with all the pokes and prods, the potions, and even the drawing of blood. Harry had gone to a well that he didn't like going to: A visit to a toy store upon their return to London, with Teddy getting whatever he wanted, as long as he behaved today. Teddy, despite still not being two years old, was as greedy as the next kid, and with all four of the adults cajoling him, he did what he had to do.

They retreated to the waiting room, and waited for the doctor to make her diagnosis and run the tests. It didn't take long for this kind of thing, and after half an hour, she called Harry back in.

Moira Flanagan was a rather attractive woman in her early 30's, and Harry was now having flashbacks to his conversation with Bill about sowing oats and all that. He kept his facial expression politely curious though, even though Flanagan pegged his interest within a second of him walking back into her office. She didn't mind a bit, and gave him her friendliest smile.

"Well Harry, I've finished the tests, and after reviewing them, and the case history you mailed me last month, we have some things to talk about. And some decisions that can be made."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Because each time you walk into a doctor's office you assume the worst, Wizards are no different than muggles."

"Point taken. What's the verdict on Teddy?"

"He tested positive for the werewolf antibody." If Moira had been telling a small child this, she would have sugarcoated it, but she felt that Harry was probably used to news like this after the life he had led.

"Oh shit, that's what we were afraid of. Does this mean he'll become a werewolf once he reaches puberty?" His voice was tinged with sadness.

"There is a 50 percent chance of that happening without us doing anything, with the other 50 percent meaning that the antibody will remain dormant and he'll lead a normal life."

"You said 'without us doing anything', I was under the impression that there was nothing that could be done." Still, the 50/50 thing buoyed him a little bit.

"That was the case when his father became one, which as I read was quite the many years ago. There have been advances since then, beyond the Wolfsbane Potion, which he is far too young to imbibe right now anyway."

"What are they? Please keep in mind that cost is not a factor here."

"It's good that it's not, because there are several experimental treatments that can be used, though the financial burden would be relatively high. The first is Marsapin, but I would recommend that only if Teddy shows no sign of magic by the time his school letter comes, the drug can severely impact one's magical ability. It's what we use on muggles, squibs, and other people like that."

"I'm guessing that it's way too soon to tell if he's magical?"

"There are no tests for that yet, at least none that I consider reliable."

"Well let's leave that out then. What are the other options?"

"Podwillan is the one I would like to prescribe to him right now, it has had some positive effects in the case studies, and seems to have no side effects. Another drug, once he gets a little older, is Cloraman, a stronger version of Podwillan. Keep in mind Harry that advances are happening all the time, and he has at least seven years before the first signs would start to show. There is time."

"Right now, best case, what will those drugs do to his chances?"

"Cut them in half, at best. That means 25 percent chance that he would become a werewolf. And remember that most magical governments have anti-werewolf laws on their books, including here in Ireland and in your home in Britain. Would Hogwarts take him?"

"Of course they would right now, I would bring every pressure to bear with the Headmistress, who happens to be a personal friend. And I work there. But that's nine years off, who knows what the situation will be like when he's ready to go there. You said expensive, how much so?"

"The drugs are made by one Potions Master, living here in Ireland, and he's designed them so that they cannot be reverse engineered, some kind of spell prevents it, which gives him his monopoly. The dose of Podwillan is one pill a day, every day, until he's roughly six years old, then we can move up. The cost is 1500 British pounds for a 100 count supply."

Harry whistled for a tick, 15 quid per pill was more expensive than anything he had ever heard of.

"Well of course I'll pay it, but how reliable is the seller?"

"He's very reliable, he was one of the inventors of Wolfsbane, so this is his life's work."

"He's a werewolf I take it?"

"He's married to one, so he has extra incentive to be innovative."

It now occurred to Harry that the inventor might be Mr. Flanagan, with Dr. Flanagan being the werewolf in question. It didn't matter to him one way or the other, but he reflected later that there must have been a reason for the good doctor to go into her particular area of expertise.

"How often will you want him back here for checkups?"

"Once every three months will be fine, though a week off more or less wouldn't matter too much. I have no doubt that you're good for the money, so you can walk out of here with the first bottle today."

They discussed how the pill was to be taken, along with some other odds and ends, and ten minutes later Harry was about to leave. But he had one more question.

"Let me ask you this ma'am: Should Teddy's grandmother, when he was with her, have scheduled this visit for him? Would it have made a difference?"

"Not a substantial one, but the earlier you catch something like this, the better. There are tests that could have been done with his mother while she was bearing him that would have told us a lot." She left out that then the fetus could have been aborted, a possibility she only discussed in cases like this if the parent brought it up, given that the child was already born.

"Well at least we found out now, rather than waiting years and wondering."

"It's always better to be prepared, yes. Well Harry, it was lovely meeting you, and I'll see you again in March during your next Quidditch shutdown." The shutdowns were spaced reasonably well enough to allow for Harry and Teddy not to have to rush over and back.

"Yes ma'am, it was a pleasure, and thank you."

He went out into the lobby to collect Teddy, and the group of them made their way back to the hotel, where the little fellow was put down for a nap. Once that was done, Harry told the others the results of the exam.

"Was that what you were hoping for?"

"I was hoping for a miracle cure Katie, I can be honest about that. But right now the odds are in his favor, and even if the worst happens, he'll have tons more support and resources at his disposal than Remus ever did. That's what I love about being wealthy: Have a problem? Throw some money at it and make it go away. This problem won't go away, but it can be made much easier on him."

What Harry was really wondering was: Where would Andromeda have come up with 1500 pounds for a bottle of pills every three months or so? Would she have even told him about it? Harry never once thought that Andromeda dying was a good thing, but when he reflected on it, he hoped that he would have thought of this doctor visit even if he was just the cool godfather who visited twice a week.

There was little exploration of Belfast after dark, one of them would have had to stay behind for Teddy anyway, and all of them had read enough about The Troubles to be wary of wandering around, even if there was relatively little violence nowadays. Instead they hunkered in the hotel suite and watched television, a device that neither 12 nor the Katie/Oliver flat had.

Thursday, December 4, 1999

Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Noon

Harry and Teddy were building a nice sized Lego's replica of Hogwarts in the living room, their project of the last two hours, when the floo fired, and Pansy and Anson came tumbling out. As her brother was brushing himself off, Pansy walked over to Harry and Teddy.

"Hi Teddy." She gave him her friendliest smile, and was relieved beyond measure when it was returned.

"Hi." He recognized her, vaguely, but had only met Pansy twice.

"What are you making there?" She could tell that it was Hogwarts though, as she knelt by him.

"Hogarts." He was almost there, in saying it. He had certainly heard the word enough times since he had come to live at 12, Andromeda had never mentioned it when he lived with her, just in case he wasn't magical.

"You'll be going there someday."

"Yeah." Teddy was still smiling, the smile of someone who has no mean people in his life and can't remember frowning.

"Hey Harry." She gently patted Teddy on the shoulder, and turned to his godfather.

"Mrs. Malfoy, honeymoon cut short?" Harry couldn't decide whether he was glad to see her or not, and so busied himself with his and Teddy's Lego's project.

"By a few days, yes. You're aware that our dear father hasn't alerted The Ministry to Narcissa's death?"

"That's what Anson said that his pet house elf told him."

"Well it's confirmed. Anson manufactured a fable about Draco getting called away by his father, and that's why he wasn't there with me getting a tan."

"You got yours pretty quickly I see, were you even there two days?"

"A bit over two days, there's a time difference you know." She was pleased that he had noticed though.

"I need a vacation, maybe the Caribbean is worth thinking about."

"It would do you good. What's the word from Belfast?"

Harry told her the gist of the doctor visit, all the while dancing around things so as not to alert Teddy that he was being talked about.

"Well that's better news than you had feared you would get, right?"

"Right, and who knows, perhaps there will be advances in the future." Flanagan had told Harry that it was not a question of research money, necessarily, but that most of the potions took a long time to make, with constant attention, which made testing all the more cumbersome.

"How's Hermione?" Said with a grin.

"Wanting very badly to smack you."

"I heard she reacted negatively. Got you in the doghouse does she? She's not blaming you for any of this is she?"

Harry didn't really want to tell Pansy that yes, Hermione seemed to be blaming him more than a little bit. They had had three nights apart in a row, one Harry guard rotation and two nights in Belfast, and he had been looking forward to a nice nighttime reunion when he got back in the middle of the evening, after the drive back down.

A reunion that was not to be, as Hermione had left a note saying that she had so much work to do at Hogwarts that she was going to work really late and just sleep on the couch in her office if her eyes got too heavy. Harry was not willing to floo over there and say that she was lying or avoiding him, for all he knew she really could be working. So he left it alone and chose not to bother her. He also chose not to go to Hogwarts for lunch, instead choosing to spend some more quality time with Teddy, feeling that he had been leaving the boy too often for Order business and fun with his friends.

"I'm sure you don't mind her blaming me, since that was your plan."

"It wouldn't have worked if there had been fissures already there."

"What makes you think that you know anything about my relationship with Hermione?"

Instead of answering him, Pansy turned to her brother.

"Anson, would you mind watching Teddy for a moment?"

"Of course not, we'll start on the South Tower." Anson knew that he didn't want to hear any of this, some things a brother just shouldn't be privy to. He bent down and he and Teddy started to build.

Pansy led a reluctant Harry into the kitchen, where Kreacher was puttering around, getting lunch ready. After grudgingly telling him to double the lunch order, Harry motioned for Pansy to continue with what she was saying earlier. Kreacher wouldn't pay any attention unless he was directly addressed, which Harry thought was very Teddy-like, but still useful.

"Because I know all about her, and what she must be like on a daily basis. Plus, and you must have thought about this: How much of your love for each other is just a heightened sense of gratitude for saving each others' lives so many times over the years? It's been a few, and that's only from some of the stories that floated around."

"Rumor and innuendo."

"Cho Chang, a woman scorned. She had a lot to say about you, and she dallied with a couple of Slytherin guys when she said them. Not anyone with a tattoo on their arm mind you, but she talked about you, a lot."

"Figures." Harry had not run into Cho since The Battle of Hogwarts, and idle curiosity had not been enough to prompt him to find out what she was doing at present.

"You are not restricted to your little group you know, your choices aren't merely Hermione, Ginny, and Lovegood."

"That's so easy for you to say, you've never had the burdens and pressures I've been living under for the last eight years. You try living a life where everyone you meet is either trying to take you down a peg, or wants your autograph. Or both."

"True enough. But didn't Ginny start off as a slightly nuts stalker type?"

To this day Harry couldn't fully explain why he had turned to Ginny during his sixth year, and he wasn't about to try and suss it out with Pansy here.

"She got over it eventually."

"We all did. The biggest topic of discussion on the first train ride was if you were on it, and what House you would wind up in. Another story floating around in the ether is that the Hat wanted you in Slytherin."

Harry took a deep breath.

"It did."

"Why did you pick Gryffindor?"

"I didn't pick Gryffindor, I picked against your husband. I didn't want to end up in the same House as him. That and Hagrid said some things." It had been mainly Hagrid, as at the time Harry had taken everything the large man said as gospel.

"Not to change the subject, but why isn't he in The Order?"

"We just never got around to inviting him I guess." In truth, given the shadow war going on, Bill and Harry didn't think that Hagrid would be of much use. He was so distinctive looking and clumsy that he would be unfit for any espionage work, which was their main thing right now.

"Interesting. Tell me something Harry, did you like kissing me? Leave aside that I forced you to do it."

"That's your problem, I can't leave that aside. You manipulated me, in a very clever way I can admit, but it was still forced."

"You enjoyed it though, I could tell."

"So sue, I like kissing."

"You liked kissing me."

"You really think I'm going to admit that to you so that you can run off and blab to Hermione?"

"You just admitted it right there. You been thinking about my offer?"

"Let's say, for a minute, that I break up with Hermione, take up with you, and possibly goad half my friends into trying to have me committed to St. Mungo's for doing that…….how do I know that you won't do to me what you did to Draco? You were devoted to him for years before this palled, but then they did and you turned on him. You've been interested in me for weeks, not years. Why wouldn't I get the same treatment?" And Harry knew that he was noticeably richer than the Malfoys were, which he was sure that Pansy suspected.

"Because I chose you, I didn't choose Draco, it was forced on me, and I lived with it for as long as I could. But ultimately I found my way out. If you lot hadn't come along, then yes, I would have married him and likely killed him later on. But know this, if you hadn't been here, or been a git to me from the off, I still would have betrayed Draco. My allegiance and affections for him were never given truly voluntarily."

"I'm still supposed to take your word for it."

"Put me under drugs then."

"I don't want to deal with this now, don't you get it? Or is that the idea? Nail me when I'm confused and distracted by other things."

"You thrive on the chaos Harry, but I'll take your point. For now. Just think about how interesting life would be with me, how exciting. We can travel the world, leave all your hassles behind here, just the three of us. A nice big yacht with Muggle Repelling Charms and no cares at all. I'll give you until Christmas to make up your mind fully, but remember, you can sample the goods anytime you like." A slight lick of her lips followed, to make her point crystal clear.

Convinced that she had him mentally squirming, Pansy left it at that. She walked out the kitchen door, pausing only to give him a hug on the way out.

Harry just stared after her, before shaking his head and following. He was confused sure enough, but over the next hour of lunch, he didn't mention his plans to burn her married home to the ground, a course of action that he was more certain of than ever.

Friday, December 5, 1999

Publisher's Office, The Daily Prophet, Diagon Alley

10:00 am

Harry and McGonagall were ushered into Attila Quirke's office right on the stroke of 10:00 am, and the man himself rose to greet them. The Quirkes had been publishing their chronicle of magical Britain for over 300 years, and their publishers had covered the wide range of Light/Dark magic, making money off whomever had power, or wanted power.

After some pleasantries, Quirke got down to brass tacks.

"Well Minerva, you asked for this meeting, what can I do for you?"

"Everything is off the record." Very key when dealing with a newspaperman.

"Acknowledged."

"We would like to come to an understanding with you." A bit vague, but McG was not used to going to anyone with her cap in her hand.

"About?"

"The future, and the present."

"You want my help against the Malfoys." Not a question, but Quirke had been assuming this for the last three days.

"No Attila, we have that situation relatively in hand. No, we would like your support against any future adversaries that might come up."

"Future adversaries? Dare you mean our Minister?" He wasn't sure who else it could be, no one else was powerful enough, or crazy enough, to take on Harry Potter and the rest of the Hogwarts hierarchy.

"Including him, yes."

Quirke turned to the real reason he had agreed to this meeting.

"What about you Harry?"

"I'm here to listen."

"But not to talk? You and I have had a complicated relationship in the past, even if we've never met. Orla speaks highly of you though."

"She's worthy Head Girl, I like her." Quirke was also the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, and Harry dealt with her quite a bit.

"She likes you too, which is the reason I'm listening to you now, her people instincts are unmatched in our family. Are you moving against Gawain Robards Harry?"

"We fear that he may be moving against us." He was taking a chance here.

"Interesting, very interesting. One assumes that you want to know what I think of the man."

"A very safe assumption, yes."

"We're still off the record of course……I happen to agree with the substance of The True Voice when it comes to him. Not with you though Harry, if you don't mind me going off topic, their attacks on you are extreme to say the least. Expecting perfection from our heroes is a bit much."

"You think that Robards is a coward?" That was the gist of The True Voice.

"I believe that as an Auror, and a high ranking one at that, he should have picked a side between you and Voldemort. I didn't, because a journalist is to remain as objective as possible while still selling copies. But he should have, instead of waiting around to pick up the pieces."

"Why have you been laying off me for the last year and a half?" Harry was getting more comfortable here, and was not liking the idea of McG making any deals.

"Because Fudge wasn't pressuring me to smear you, that's why. He and I were old friends, roommates, and……..well let's just say that he had more leverage on me than simply being Minister."

"He was blackmailing you?"

"In a sense, yes. No details, sorry. But anyway, you would like me to become your paper of record then. How will Lovegood feel about that?"

"Relieved, he much prefers his own brand of journalism."

"An amusing man, I read his articles with great interest. So are you offering a full alliance, or merely one if and when it suits you?"

"Define 'full alliance'."

"I want in. I want full access to your group's activities, as well as a vote at the table. I won't publish what you say not to, within reason, but I want to know everything. Plus, I want exclusive rights to your story Harry."

"What does that mean?" Harry was sure that he wasn't going to like it no matter what Quirke said.

"I mean Harry Potter: The Authorized Biography, coming soon to Flourish and Blotts and any and all bookstores around the world. Meaning the scoop on the Philospher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black, and all various and sundry episodes in your life. You are free to leave out the Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger romances if you choose, but your adventures with them, and Dumbledore, are in there."

McGonagall braced herself for the explosion from Harry that she would have bet her life was coming. Instead she just heard him take a deep breath, and reply, to her ever-loving astonishment:

"And I get?"

"My full and complete support against Gawain Robards and Kingsley Shacklebolt, starting now. I'll start hatcheting them, and praising you, though I'll be subtle about it at first." He was smiling at the thought of it, he genuinely disliked both men.

"And when he responds?"

"He can't take me down Harry, I have knowledge of too many bodies and where they are buried. But it means that he'll come after you that much harder, I hope you're ready for that."

"Do you believe that he's in league with the Malfoys?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, he's shown an unwillingness to get his hands dirty."

Harry sat back in his chair and thought about it for a long minute.

"Present yourself at WWW at 6:00 pm tonight, alone of course, tell no one where you are going. Be prepared to sign confidentiality parchments and pass a very quick Veritaserum test. You will have your vote at the table and your knowledge upon meeting those requirements. The authorized autobiography will be delivered to you after we win, but not before."

Both McG and Quirke immediately caught the slight change in the deal, and McGonagall said it first:

"Your AUTO-biography Harry?"

"Yes, I've spent the last year, off and on, writing my story."

"To what end?" McG couldn't imagine anyone wanting to mentally relive all the horrors of Harry's teenage life.

"Because, if you don't mind me sounding immodest, it's an extraordinary tale. And since I'm the one who knows all the particulars, I wanted future Potters and Lupins to have access to what happened, from my perspective. Plus, and I won't lie to you here: It might make for an interesting fantasy book series for muggles, I can't count on a Quidditch salary forever you know."

McGonagall didn't know quite what to say, but Quirke did.

"Your terms are acceptable Harry, and I'm pleased to see how forward thinking you are." He was mentally counting the Galleons already, and to think that he had almost not bothered to respond to McGonagall's note requesting this meeting.

"It cost me years of my life and countless lives in order to get there Attila, but yes, I'm forward thinking now. We have terms?"

"Yes we do."

He stood up and walked around his desk, offering his hand.

Harry took it, sealing the deal. The Daily Prophet was now the paper of record and mouthpiece for The Order of the Phoenix.

End Chapter


	38. 1984

Friday, December 5, 1999, continued

WWW

6:15 pm

Attila Quirke showed up on time, in a disguise no less, and was admitted to WWW, whereupon he passed the drug test that showed that he was not working for anyone but himself. The disguise was a wise move, as Kingsley still had at least one Auror watching WWW from dawn to midnight, and they reported on every person who entered the shop, whether they came out with a purchase or not. They did not track the floo though, or couldn't, because of Bill's deal with the head of the Floo office, which was still holding steady. So the Aurors didn't know that Bill, Harry, Fleur, Anson, and Luna were there in the shop with the mysterious visitor.

Quirke did balk at the secrecy parchment, but was mollified when it was agreed that Luna would be taken off said parchment, and would either write or ghost-write all Order related articles. At a nice salary of course, her unofficial position as Order scribe and press communications director now being made more official. She was at WWW to assure Quirke that The Quibbler was more than willing to hand over its Order responsibilities to The Prophet.

But ultimately, after a bit of grumbling, Quirke passed and signed, all the while Bill was looking at his watch.

"We have an operation about to begin, so there's no time right this minute to fill you in."

"Ah Bill, but we have an agreement." An agreement that he was determined to have Bill keep, even though none of Bill's and Harry's obligations were in writing.

"Yes we do, which is why you can come along if you like."

This gave Quirke a start.

"I'm not particularly gifted in battle." He was a writer, not a fighter.

"Then best you stay behind Harry, but we don't think it'll come to battle. Are you familiar with Efrimias Yaxley?"

"I am, repatriated Death Eater, member of The True Voice. One of their leaders if I'm not mistaken." And he knew that he wasn't.

"We're taking him at the top of the hour. He has a meeting with Lucius Malfoy, and we intend to be there."

"You're going to infiltrate a meeting between those two? Why just take Yaxley then? Get Malfoy why you're there."

"Ah Attila, it would be pointless to grab Lucius Malfoy, since we already did that six days ago."

Bill loved the dumbstruck look on the publisher's face, he needed a laugh after the last week and change.

"So that's why he's been rumored to be out of the country. Is he going to be there? Or one of you under Polyjuice?"

"I have the honor of portraying him today, and Yaxley will be coming with us. Sunday there is a meeting of the entire True Voice organization, and we will be there as well." He didn't want to say what exactly they would be doing there yet, not in front of Anson.

But Quirke could guess.

"To kill them? Or capture them?"

"You'll be a part of that decision. Now, are you in?"

"Of course." Attila thought that he wouldn't mind this for the world.

Bill was very satisfied with the deal that Harry had made with Quirke, as it didn't exceed the parameters that they had talked about the night before. Bill hadn't known about the autobiography part of it though, he hadn't even known that Harry was writing it.

No one had, and it had landed like the proverbial ton of bricks when he had told Bill and Fleur at lunch. They held off on the questions though, and didn't even ask to read it, even after Harry told them that it was pretty much done.

The five of them put on their disguises and flooed into The Leaky Cauldron, from where they made their way to Diagon Alley, and through the border into Knockturn Alley. Malfoy Enterprises was a small office tucked away on a side street, where no one would notice it.

But eyes were always watching the door, some good, some bad. Those eyes spotted the five strangers entering the front door, recognizing none of them. This didn't mean much to the watchers though, as disguises were common in Knockturn Alley, there were a lot of people with business there that didn't want to be seen doing it. Lucius had told them the magical code for entering the office, and Bill used it to gain entry.

Once there they had 30 minutes to rifle through the papers, check the safe, and block the floo. Bill had no idea how many people Yaxley would bring with him, or really if the man would come at all. Pansy had visited Malfoy Manor for a quick visit, with Fleur in tow, and had reported that no True Voice people had sent back replies indicating that they would not be at the Sunday meeting. Bill hoped that Yaxley would have sent something if he was thinking along those lines.

At 6:55, Bill took the Polyjuice and became Lucius…….and not a moment too soon, as less than a minute later there was a knock on the door. Harry, in disguise still, went to answer it. He took a deep breath, trying not to smile, and opened the door.

It was Yaxley, with two henchmen in tow. Harry didn't recognize either of them, but didn't think anything of it.

"Yeah, who're you?"

"I have an appointment with your boss, let us in."

"You Parkinson?" Setting the trap, to at least make the man acknowledge who he was.

"No, I'm Yaxley." Said with a 'who the hell are you to ask who I am' kind of attitude.

The bait was taken, and Harry let the three of them in the office.

"I'm Polkiss, follow me." It was Harry's little laugh for himself to use the last name of Dudley's best friend.

"You must be new, I don't recognize the name."

"Who says it's my real name. Let's go, Mr. Malfoy is waiting for you." Harry started walking toward the inner office.

Yaxley could feel that something was a little off here, but followed along anyway. He knew that Malfoy wouldn't dare make a move on him right now, not with what he could tell the others.

Harry walked into the inner office without so much as a look behind him, and Yaxley and his two goons did likewise. They saw Lucius sitting at his desk, sneer in place, with Anson standing next to him.

"I see you're giving Pansy's brother some new responsibility." You bloody idiot, his tone of voice implied, but didn't say.

"He is family now, so of course."

This was the extent of Yaxley's small talk capability, Anson would tell them later that he was surprised they got that much of it out of him.

"What was so important that you couldn't wait until Sunday? And what is Sunday all about anyway? Didn't we just have a chance to meet at your brat's wedding?"

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

Fleur and Luna came out of Disillusionment and took down the henchmen, while Harry got some pleasure from the brief look of surprise on Yaxley's face before he took him down alongside them.

Bill hastily reactivated the floo, and Harry, Luna, and Fleur, the three smallest of them, each took a prisoner and flooed back to WWW, but not until Bill whispered something to Harry right before he left. Once they were gone, Bill motioned to Quirke.

"Take your disguise off."

"What? Why?"

"You and I are going to walk out of here together and go to The Leaky Cauldron." Bill still looked like Lucius, he had 20 minutes left in the Polyjuice cycle.

"Say what?" He was looking at Bill/Lucius like he was crazy.

"If Robards is watching this place, like we assume he is, it will get him wondering. And Lucius needs to make an appearance in public before other people start to wonder. We'll floo from there to The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, and then go to our destination."

"The Shrieking Shack?" It was the Hogsmeade part of it that made Quirke guess that.

"In the vicinity, now let's go."

Bill/Lucius and Attila strolled easily out the front door, and nonchalantly through the side streets and main drag of Knockturn Alley. They talked in inconsequential things for the most part, nothing they didn't mind people overhearing. Lucius could be heard bragging about the wedding this past weekend, while Quirke was chiding him about not being invited. They walked just quickly enough that they were in the floo at the pub less than a minute before Castor Parkinson and two of his men all but stormed through the doors.

Bill had a feeling that they had dodged a curse there, though he wouldn't know for sure until later, and so he and his new member quickly Apparated to the front gates of Hogwarts, followed by the walk up to the castle itself. Halfway there, Quirke stopped Bill.

"Who's really in charge here? You, or Harry?"

"We're a cooperative venture Attila, we listen to each other and come to an understanding before acting. I'm the titular Head, but none of this flows without Harry and his participation." Bill was surprised that the man had waited this long to ask the question.

"So you're more than the front man."

"Yes, though you will discover that not all of our people believe that." He put his parents in that category.

They resumed walking.

"I didn't notice the names of any students on the secrecy parchment."

"That's because there aren't any, though we have an unofficial agreement with a Gryffindor Prefect." Natalie McDonald he was talking about, who Harry made a point to have a chat with at least twice a week.

"I want my granddaughter to be the second one."

"I'm sure that can be arranged, let's talk about it with Harry after the interrogation." Now they were up to the front doors.

"Where are we going? One of the offices?"

"You'll see, we have a secure location inside."

It was very secure, especially since McGonagall had the two True Voice Slytherin seventh year students under heavy surveillance. The two of them, a couple as it turned out, could hardly leave their Common Room without a ghost tailing them, or the paintings watching them. Their owls were censored as well. In all it was much the same kind of tabs that Dumbledore had kept on Harry back in the day.

Bill led Quirke to the still abandoned bathroom, where no one had as yet seen Moaning Myrtle over the last six days, in spite of the constant coming and going. They went down into the Chamber, Quirke surprisingly not putting up a fight about it, and found their friends down there with the prisoners. Bill let the trapdoor close, as was their wont now that they weren't leaving a guard down there. No one would leave The Chamber unless Harry said so.

Before any questions were asked, Bill motioned for Anson to step to the side for a little talk, as he noticed Attila looking around in a beyond fascinated way.

"Where's your sister right now?"

"At the house with our parents, she's supposed to lay low, still technically being on her honeymoon." Anson had gotten to WWW only a couple of minutes ahead of Quirke.

"Get back upstairs and send her an owl, telling her to be at WWW at 9:00 am sharp. We need to have a thorough going over of Malfoy Manor before the big day on Sunday. I assume you two have some kind of code, in case your parents read a message?"

"We do, and I would have used it anyway. You want me to go now?"

"Yeah, I should have thought to tell you earlier. Do it, and come back down here."

Anson took off, and Bill went back to the rest of them, but Quirke had a question for him first.

"Now that young Parkinson is gone, we can talk about my question from earlier: What are you planning to do Sunday with that meeting?"

"At the very least, we're going to capture as many of them as we can. At the most, kill every single one of them."

Harry cast a side glance at Luna, but she was not visibly reacting to what Bill had said. So he prompted her to react.

"Luna, what do you think?"

"I think that killing them all is a very extreme step, given what little harm they have actually done. The real perpetrators of the violence so far have been Lucius, Draco, this man Yaxley, and Gawain Robards. They should be the ones to go." She left out that the Parkinson parents were almost certainly goners, but Luna genuinely felt that it was not the Order's job to look out for them against their own spawn.

Harry had not really thought of it like that, and couldn't really deny the logic/morality of what she was saying.

"So you would vote for capture?"

"I would, and I think that the only person outside this room right now that would support you is Ronald, who is a bit bloodthirsty for revenge if you want my opinion."

Bill was nodding, he had done the vote counting in his head all week, and had come to a similar conclusion, though he felt that Oliver and Katie would back whatever Harry advocated, even if they were not fully on board with it.

"We always want your opinion Luna, don't ever forget that. Attila, what do you think?"

"Let me get this straight: You have proof that the Malfoys and Robards are working together?" He was sure that this was still just an anecdotally based theory.

Bill walked over to the jury rigged table that they had set up, which had copies of all of the interrogation transcripts. He waved his hand at them.

"Some light reading for you later on after we're done, Lucius admitted to the alliance under Veritaserum. You believe it though, otherwise you never would have made this deal with us."

"Belief and proof are two different things Bill. I want to talk to Lucius myself."

"All you want, as long as two of us are present, doesn't really matter which two. Any Veritaserum use is at your expense, you have the money." He figured that Quirke was now the richest member of The Order, surpassing Harry.

"Fine, I'll do it tomorrow, after we visit their house. When are we going to start the questioning?"

"As soon as Anson gets back, it'll save us the trouble of repeating everything to him."

"Understandable. And I am with my fellow journalist in her vote by the way, a mass killing of purebloods would only turn the public against you, not without more provocation than you have gotten so far. It doesn't matter what alibis you concoct, everyone will blame you."

Bill could not have been less surprised, and he looked over at Harry, who was deep in thought. Bill sidled over to him, and in a low voice:

"What?"

"I think Luna's right, we can't get away with butchering the entire group."

"Get away with it from the general public, or our people?"

"Both, but I'm more concerned about our people right now, we really can't afford any fissures in our dam right now. I have an idea about how to separate the wheat from the chaff on Sunday." He murmured his plan in a few short sentences, and Harry could see his friend starting to agree.

"Good idea, and we can still get rid of the really bad apples."

"It'll be the time to get rid of Lucius as well, sooner or later he's going to have to be disposed of."

"Do you still want to burn down the house though?"

"No, we'll use the Shrieking Shack, further it's legend a bit, if you will."

The other three were staring at them pretty hard by now, so Bill and Harry rejoined them to wait for Anson.

It was another ten minutes before that happened, as it was no small journey from the Chamber to the Owlrey. After letting him catch his breath, Bill woke up Yaxley.

The man just shook his head to clear the cobwebs, he had hit the floor pretty hard back at the Malfoy offices. Then he saw who was surrounding him.

"I should have known that that was a setup." He sounded a bit disgusted with himself.

"Too bad for you."

"You'd better pray that you don't make any mistakes boy, one inch and I'll take you out." It was Yaxley's best menacing growl.

Which did nothing to intimidate Bill, who was tempted to yawn in reply.

"I'll be on my toes. Any deal you want to make with us? I've got no problem making on that will spare your life in the end."

Yaxley told Bill to go do something with Molly, which made everyone think that he was not amenable to a deal. Bill just shrugged.

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way. Harry, if you please."

Harry yanked back on Yaxley's hair, which opened his mouth just perfectly for Bill to put the three drops of Veritaserum in it. After waiting for a moment for it to take effect, Bill began.

"Where are you right now?"

"I don't know." He did sound curious, as if hoping that Bill would tell him. In vain of course.

"Did you know that Lucius Malfoy was working for us all along?"

"What?! No!!"

Everyone who was not tied up was smiling now.

"Sorry, I was lying. But you deserved it for the threat, and for talking about my mother. There'll be a bill due for that one later on by the way. No Yaxley, Malfoy was working for Gawain Robards."

"I don't believe you." He could say that, because there had been no question asked.

"It's true, he confessed it to us, under much the same conditions and circumstances that you are in right now. Do you believe me now?" Bill was still debating on whether or not to actually produce Lucius, who was currently resting in one of the side tunnels, or just taunt Yaxley with the possibility that they had him.

"I don't know."

"Fair enough. Are you working for Gawain Robards?"

"No."

A few sighs of relief in the room, it would be much easier if Robards' only contact was Lucius.

"Do you suspect anyone in the True Voice organization of doing so?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Castor Parkinson."

"What gives you those suspicions?"

"A few things that he has said, and hinted at."

"Describe them to me."

Yaxley gave a two minute account of some very circumstantial evidence that gave him that theory. It was nothing concrete, but Harry and Bill had needed less to suspect Percy a couple of months back. They knew it was bollocks of course, Castor working for Robards, as Anson's father would have behaved much differently after he found Narcissa's body.

Assuming that he had told his children the truth.

"His son is working for us, as you can see. Did you ever suspect anyone in your organization of working for us?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because every man jack, and his woman, in our group hates Potter's guts, and your family too."

"Not all of them apparently. Who do you have working for you in The Ministry?"

Yaxley gave out a list of names, of which six were not on Lucius' list, and four were on Lucius' list and not his. What to do about people on both lists was near the top of Bill's to do schedule.

"Do you respect Lucius Malfoy?"

"No."

"Why not?" Not that Bill was surprised by the answer.

"He's a failure."

"In what way?"

"As a politician. He had Fudge's ear for years, but contented himself with baby steps toward what should have been the ultimate goal. It made things much harder once our Lord took over."

"Did Voldemort make mistakes?"

"Yes."

"Name them."

For all of Yaxley's lack of respect for Lucius, his critique of Voldemort ran along the same lines, and nothing new was learned.

"Why have you not killed Lucius, if you have such little respect for him?"

"For all his faults, he is on the correct side, and we cannot waste manpower." Said a bit grudgingly, but honestly.

"You might be interested to know that he said much the same about you."

"Thank you." This was said with more than a little bit of sarcasm.

"You're welcome. Do you have The Order of the Phoenix infiltrated?"

"No."

"Have you tried?"

"Yes."

"With who?" Bill was praying that he would say Percy.

"Your brother Percy."

"No one else?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"After Percy it was decided that you lot are too rigorous with counter-intelligence."

"Did you ever try to turn Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"Lucius claimed that he was trying, but he never seemed to get anywhere."

In his own questioning, Lucius had said that he never approached Kingsley, meaning that he had lied to Yaxley.

Bill spent the rest of the time doing more of this, comparing what Lucius said to what Yaxley claimed, and there were quite a few discrepancies. There would need to be at least one more session before Sunday afternoon, and with one minute left, Bill started to wrap up.

"I'm still willing to listen if you have a deal for us. There's no need for you to die."

"Just proves that you're a coward Weasley. That's why our people will win, because you don't have the fortitude to get rid of your enemies when you have the chance."

"Yaxley, you're not going anywhere, there's plenty of time to kill you. You're in the most secure location in Britain. Yes, we're still in Britain, that's the bone I'm throwing you. You seem to be under the delusion that you need to torture or kill people to prove that you're brave. That's why YOU people will lose. Stupefy!"

Yaxley slumped back in his chair, and it was over for now. The sidekicks, whom Yaxley had said didn't know much about anything, were left until the next day.

"Alright then. Anson, you won't be needed tomorrow at Malfoy Manor, I'd rather have you talking to your father and insinuating yourself into his efforts."

"Gotcha. Report where?"

"To WWW, the shop is open all afternoon. Luna, I'll understand if you'd rather not go back there tomorrow."

"I'll come, we will need a lot of Duplicating Charms for that room Lucius told us about." Luna did not sound exactly thrilled to be going along, but she had not hesitated in answering.

"Thank you. Everyone else, be at the shop at 9:00 am."

As they were leaving, Bill held Harry's arm so that he would slow down. They were leaving their five prisoners down there without a guard, and had been with Lucius and Draco for the last four days. The potions being given them were Slughorn guaranteed foolproof, or so the man claimed. He had been correct so far, and Harry and Bill had done away with the watchers.

"I have to ask this: Where do things stand with Hermione?"

"They're fine, nothing to complain about." He and Hermione had had lunch that afternoon, a second one for Harry after his meal with Bill and Fleur, where he had filled her in on the Quirke business. Hermione had still maintained that she had had to work late last night, but she and Harry made plans for some quality time after the Yaxley business was taken care of this night.

"What a generic answer."

"Thanks, I was practicing it. Look, I'm not going to take Pansy's offer, but I can't flat out turn her down right now, not while everything is going on. We have too much to worry about right now without having to deal with what her real endgame is."

Bill could appreciate the practicality of that approach, even if he doubted that Hermione would. He badly wanted to ask whether or not Harry had shared that with her, but decided to try a different tack:

"Has anything actually happened with Pansy? Look little brother, someone has to ask, someone is bound to."

"No, nothing has happened, and nothing will. I'm not going down that road, period."

"You were thinking about it?"

"Like you said on Sunday, the forbidden aspect of it did get to me a little. But Thursday in our kitchen, I wasn't tempted, and from what she was saying, I could have had her right there." At the time of the most recent offer from Pansy, Harry had been without sex of any kind for six nights, and he had firmly told himself that that was what had tempted him. Nothing more. This was not what he told Bill, who kept after him on that vein.

"And your doubts about you and Hermione? Your wild oats?"

"They're still there, and they will be until this mess is over and we can see what life is like without daily conflict. Then we can do what normal couples do."

"And what's that?"

"Beats me, but I'll know it when I see it."

"What about including Pansy and Anson in the carnage on Sunday?" Now Bill thought that he would find out about where Harry really stood.

"What did you find out about who gets the money?"

"I made some inquiries with my goblin supervisor, who knows everything about what's going on by the way. He said that it's all about the chain of events. If all four of their bodies are found at the same time, then it goes to Lucius' next closest family member, there won't be any attempts to figure out the order of death. The next closest relative is his sister, Anson's former mother-in-law. If Pansy is found with them, that would be Draco's heir too, if he's discovered later. It's all one big headache, but that's another thing we have to decide."

"Then we have to get the lowdown on Lucius' sister." It had not been covered during Anson's truth telling session, and they couldn't ask him now for fear of alerting him to their potential plan.

"She can't be worse than he is, she did emigrate after all, she must not have wanted anything to do with his plans back then." She lived in San Marino, a tiny principality surrounded by Italy, and generally kept out of politics of any kind.

"Who knows why people take off, I wish I'd have thought more about it myself after graduation."

"Then you would have been ripe for the picking, unprepared."

Harry had been thinking about that.

"They never would have found me Bill. One guy, traveling alone and on his guard all the time? It would have taken a regiment to find me, and they don't have that kind of manpower."

"My God, you're thinking about it now, aren't you?" A bit hypocritical of Bill, who more than once had daydreamed of France and that great coffee, and its relatively trouble free political climate.

"I'm not going to uproot Teddy again, not unless I absolutely have to."

That did not constitute a guarantee as far as Bill was concerned, but he let it lie for now. He didn't totally buy Harry's story anyway, the Malfoys would have done something to lure him back, up to and including killing Andromeda just like they wound up doing.

"The worry I have here, is in killing two members of the Order, even if they were inducted under the most mercenary of purposes. What are the others going to think about that?"

"I don't know, which is why we need to sound out more people. I'll talk to Neville and Lisa tonight, they're home with Teddy right now."

"I'll try out McGonagall and Flitwick tonight, I should fill them in anyway."

It was one of McG's conditions, really her only one, of using the Chamber: She needed to know what was going on in it, so when Robards inevitably started querying her, she would have some idea of what not to say. Bill was about to leave, when he remembered something.

"Oh yeah, Quirke wants us to include his granddaughter in our group, at the very least at the same level as you have Natalie, but I get the feeling he wants her fully in. What do you think?"

"She's whip smart from what I can gather, and a great Head Girl and Quidditch Captain. It might overload her though, with all that going on."

"This will be done by the new year Harry."

"What makes you think so?"

"Because we need it to end. Robards has been playing at this for months in his spare time, we've been at it for years now, with you and McGonagall on the front lines the entire time. I don't know if he's counting on that fatigue to make us capitulate or act rashly, but I have to think that he's counting on it for something."

"Are we rushing things?"

"No, if anything we're going too slowly. That's what Dumbledore's big mistake was, he spent too much time watching and waiting. He never would have grabbed Lucius, or even sussed out Percy for that matter. No we need it to end. Don't you?"

"I need some sense of normalcy in my life right now, but the problem is, I'm not sure I would recognize it even if I found it."

"A new century, a new sense of normalcy. It'll happen."

Harry was too tired to remind Bill that the new century was another year away, as Hermione had ranted to him a week ago after reading something in a muggle periodical. They went upstairs, and on to their consultations.

McG and Flitwick were in many ways more concerned about the Parkinsons than they were about Robards. It was their reasoning that while Robards barely knew any of them other than Arthur, the Parkinsons had spent the last couple of months doing some closer observing, perhaps probing for weaknesses. They did not advocate killing the siblings, not blatantly, but when Bill pressed them, they both stated that they would not object. McG had one blunt question though:

"Does this mean that Harry's house burning idea is not in play any longer?"

"We won't kill all of them, but I think that Malfoy Manor might need to go down, yes. If only to prevent sister Malfoy from getting it." He was already walking back from the Shrieking Shack idea that he and Harry had discussed not 20 minutes earlier.

Meanwhile, at 12, Neville, Lisa, and Charlie all shared some degree of hesitation at the killing of Pansy and Anson, but Harry too pressed them, and none would give an outright 'no'.

Neville wanted Pansy put under drugs to see what, indeed, her endgame was. If it was harmless enough, then she could have the interrogation Obliviated from her mind and be sent on her merry. If it was something dangerous, then the burning plan could be modified to include her.

"We use drugs on everyone else, there's no reason not to do it to her now."

"Alright then. You two come along, and Lisa, you take your name off the parchment tomorrow morning. You'll be the one to knock her out and give her the drugs, there's no way she'll expect any funny business from you."

"And the Obliviation, that wouldn't be considered an assault by the parchment?"

"Not according to Bill." Who had designed it.

Hermione had been supervising the weekly meeting of The History Club at Hogwarts, and returned home as the debate ended. She did not weigh in, and indeed declined a spot on the Malfoy Manor team the next day, and the Sunday meeting as well, saying that she had seen enough of the place to last her more than one lifetime.

She also, tellingly, refused to give a vote when it came to Pansy and Anson.

"I'm more than a little biased here Harry, especially after her machinations. But I'll say this: Anson is useful." She would say no more.

Harry had a hard time believing that Anson would cooperate in the event that Harry and Bill had anything to do with his sister's untimely demise, but he would also say no more.

90 minutes after they said no more, Harry would lay in bed and wonder what in the name of peanut butter and jelly possessed him to be tempted by the likes of Pansy Parkinson……err, Pansy Malfoy. He had trouble getting used to the new name.

But still, Little Harry was proving to be more dangerous than his actual wand. He would have to be very careful tomorrow.

Saturday, December 6, 1999

Malfoy Manor

9:30 am

It was not a large group that walked into Malfoy Manor behind Pansy Malfoy, as Bill and Harry had only told certain people about it, not wanting a mob scene. Plus, and Bill could admit this, sooner or later Gawain Robards was going to show up looking for them, and it would be best if the Order members were not all bunched in one place. That is, unless they were in The Chamber, which was theoretically impregnable unless you were a snake, or 12, which was simply a tough nut to crack. Harry had also told Bill that he had been putting up some wards during his spare time, just in case.

So Bill, Fleur, Luna, Neville, Harry, and Lisa all filed in behind the living Mrs. Malfoy, after a quick portkey ride and a 20 minute hike. Lucius and Draco were not with them, but early this morning Bill had taken the blueprint they had of the house and gone over it with Lucius, under drugs, to make sure of every ward and alarm that the place had. Slughorn had been with him during the questioning, and afterward had run a test on Lucius, the result being that Malfoy was on the verge of starting to build up a tolerance to Veritaserum. His advice was no more of it for at least a week, not realizing that the man would be dead long before that. But Bill thanked him for his help all the same.

The front door was the easiest to get through, as Pansy already knew the unlocking spell that got them in. Once in there, it was a big place, roughly twice the size of Parkinson Manor and at least five times the size of 12.

Lucius had a regular office, which had his normal paperwork and things of that nature, and Neville and Bill handled that, Quirke had begged off the day's plan, saying that he had work to do at the paper. Bill was the one of them that dealt with paperwork the most, and could best recognize what was important and what was immaterial. It was two hours before they left, and this combined with the night before meant that Bill now new pretty much everything about Malfoy Enterprises.

Fleur was Pansy's shadow, and went where she did. Pansy first gave an order to the house elf staff that no one was to be admitted, either by the front door or floo, without her permission. Anyone violating that order would be given clothes, a dire threat that Pansy had absolutely no interest in backing up with deeds, she had seen her mother do it once and the house elf's reaction had given Pansy a week's worth of nightmares. But it worked now, and for their entire six hour stay at the house, they were undisturbed. After the initial orders, Pansy just poked around in what she assumed would now be her house. She had been here many times over the years, but always as a guest, not as Mistress of the Manor, and she was relishing the role.

Harry, Luna, and Lisa concentrated on the master bedroom and the room used by Draco. Young Malfoy had told them that he had kept a journal in his earlier Hogwarts years, unbeknownst to anyone in his circle, and finding it was their first priority. It was hidden deep under his bed, up in the springs in case someone searched the room without his knowledge. Well he knew now, having told them where it was. The rest of the room was unremarkable except that Draco had a lot of dress robes and shoes, a LOT of shoes. Lisa was a shoe lover herself, and she told her friends that she maybe had ¼ of his total, at best.

The master bedroom was trickier, since Lucius had told Bill that Narcissa had wards on a trunk in her closet, but he didn't know what they were or how to get around them. He had never touched it, not knowing what kind of Black family magic could be on it. Harry, who in terms of his inheritance was now a Black more or less, didn't try anything either. If the house remained standing it could wait for Teddy to get to be of age, but more likely it would be a cinder come the next day.

They all joined up for the secure room visit, after a spot of lunch. Bill, very gingerly, got the door open, disabling the outer wards, and they all walked in. Bill and Harry then disabled the wards on each of the individual filing cabinets, and there were quite a few of them. Given that Lucius believed that he would be the only one in there, everything was very well labeled and organized, and they started going through it. Each folder contained the Ministry file on a particular person, and everyone in magical Britain had a Ministry file that kept tabs on their school and work history, income level, criminal record if applicable, and sometimes a lot more.

Neville was the one to find Harry's file, and whistled as he paged through it.

"The Ministry has you pretty well documented Harry. Come look at this."

Harry walked over and started looking through it himself. It contained all of his grades and disciplinary reports from Hogwarts…….which even he was surprised to discover was quite the lengthy list. His Puddlemere contract was in there, as were copies of the wills of James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, and Andromeda Tonks, all of which Harry was a beneficiary of on some level. It also detailed his movements during every Hogsmeade visit since he had been eligible for them, under three different Ministers.

It was not the thickest file in the room, Harry was only 19 years old after all, but he was very disturbed to find out that his government had kept such a close watch on him. Everyone started looking for their own files, even Pansy, and some exclamations and a few swear words followed, letting Harry know that he was not the only one with a bad feeling about all of this. Even Teddy had a file, though it was less than five pages and contained little more than his birth certificate, custody information, and details on his inheritance.

Bill was leafing through his own record, which was thinner than the other Brits because of his overseas postings, and while still reading:

"Okay, we're going to have to agree that all of this, except for files associated with Order and True Voice members, or Ministry traitors, are to be destroyed. It's bad enough that the government has all of this, we don't need the temptation." He was thinking more of Pansy than anything, the wards had been permanently taken down by Bill's and Harry's actions, something the former was regretting right about now. He would have to put new ones up later on.

Everyone seemed to indicate that they thought along similar lines. But Bill had been right about Pansy, she had no intention of letting such a treasure trove go to waste. Her own file was rather sparse, Anson's a bit thicker, but her parents' files were the mother lode as far as she was concerned. She spent 15 minutes skimming them and learned quite a bit about them that she had never suspected, much less known for sure.

All told they spent three hours in the room, doing some separating of the necessary files, but also a lot of reading. Without asking Bill, Harry culled the files of every member of the Hogwarts staff, and also the Ministry Department Heads and members of the Wizengamot. Just in case, is how he rationalized it to himself.

Eventually Bill called a halt to it.

"Alright folks, we're going to get eyestrain if we keep this up. Let's take our relevant files and get going. We'll come back tomorrow morning before the meeting and settle everything then."

"Do you want me at that meeting tomorrow? Anson?" Pansy was a bit worried about being in front of all her old comrades for some reason.

"Yes, it's all hands on deck, and you two are some of the hands. Lucius and Draco will be there in spirit, played by myself and Harry. I'll come up with a formal plan and we'll all talk about it. But first, there is one little matter we need to clean up."

"What's that?" Pansy had no idea of what's coming.

Bill pulled a vial of Veritaserum out of his pocket.

"Open wide Pansy, we need to ask you a few questions."

She looked at Bill, who was not smiling. Pansy herself was feeling a little sick, but tried to bluff her way out of it.

"And if I say no? We're all entitled to our secrets Bill."

"Not when they affect the rest of us. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Pansy's wand was out instantly, but so were everyone else's.

"You know Pansy, the muggles have a 'game' called Russian Roulette. It's where you take one of their guns, and put one bullet in a chamber, but leave the other ones empty. Then you spin the barrel and put it to your temple and pull the trigger. You have a one in six chance of blowing your brains out. I was in a pub in Cairo a few years back and saw it happen. Of course the man was drunk, and you're not. But as it happens there are six of us with wands pointed at you, and only one took their name off the parchment. So open wide Pansy."

"At least I would take one of you………." She didn't finish her threat, as Lisa took aim at her.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Pansy was hit, and fell to the floor, frozen.

Lisa had been on Pansy's far left, by design as Pansy was a right hander, and there was little chance that her former classmate would have been able to swing her wand around quickly enough.

Bill knelt next to Pansy, after tying her up with some magical rope.

"Good job Lisa. Now if you didn't do anything wrong Pansy, then we'll Obliviate this entire little episode from your scheming little mind, and you'll be none the wiser. But based on your reaction, I think we all know that something is going on. I'm going to put up a Silencing Bubble around us, just to make sure that you can't call for any house elf help. So don't get any ideas."

Bill put up the Bubble, and had Lisa release the freeze on Pansy. A defiant Mrs. Malfoy refused to open her mouth at first, but hair pulling did the trick, as it usually does.

They already knew that Pansy was Pansy, so they dispensed with the control questions, as time was something of the essence.

"What do you have planned for Harry Potter?"

"Marriage."

Now Harry was the one who was sick, as Bill continued.

"You think he'll marry you willingly?"

"Yes."

"Do you love him?" Bill had to ask that.

"No."

Harry was very relieved upon hearing that, at least it was nothing 'personal'.

"Do you think he loves you?"

"No."

At least she wasn't delusional.

"Then why would he marry you?"

"He would be on the rebound from Granger."

Now Bill asked the real question.

"Do you have plans to make sure that that rebound happens?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I'm going to have Granger killed."

No gasps this time, this crowd was too used to these kind of revelations to be surprised. All that remained was for Bill to ask the when.

"When is that plan to come to fruition?"

"Tonight."

End Chapter.


	39. To the Rescue?

Saturday, December 6, 1999, continued

Malfoy Manor

3:45 pm

"I'm going to have Granger killed."

No gasps this time, this crowd was too used to these kind of revelations to be surprised. All that remained was for Bill to ask the when.

"When is that plan to come to fruition?"

"Tonight."

So much for no gasps.

Harry immediately advanced on her, and Bill had to use all of his considerable strength to hold him back, he didn't want Harry impulsively killing her before they could find out the plan. His voice wasn't held back though:

"When tonight!?!"

"I don't know when." Pansy was sounding very scared right now, as her wannabe husband was looking at her with homicidal intentions.

"Who is going to do it?! Where!?"

"Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, somewhere in London." Those two were Pansy's closest friends.

Harry now stopped struggling, when the realization hit him.

"Hermione is on an outing with her parents today, they're going shopping, then dinner." He had been invited of course, but had this to do instead. He still probably would not have gone, wanting Hermione to have some quality time alone with her parents, something she had been very critical of Ron for resisting.

Bill had a very bad feeling about all of this.

"How did you know Hermione's plans for tonight?"

"Listening Charms in her parents' house."

"When did you place them?"

"The day after I agreed to work with you."

That was quite awhile ago, and Harry was suddenly furious with Hermione for not sweeping the house since then.

"Who else knows about this plan besides you three?"

"No one."

Bill knew that some of this was his fault, he should have tested Pansy and Anson every week. He only hoped that Harry wouldn't realize this too.

"Are the parents going to be killed too?"

"That's up to Daphne and Tracey, their priority is Granger."

"Does your brother know that this is going to happen?"

"No."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"I knew you would test him while I was away."

Bill let Harry go, thinking that they didn't need to know any more than they did now. Harry slowly advanced on Pansy.

"Are you scared right now?" He wasn't consciously trying to be menacing, but Lisa would later tell him that it had scared even her.

"Yes." In fact she sounded terrified.

"Do you think I'm going to kill you?"

"Yes."

"You're right. But if we catch your friends, and Hermione and her parents aren't hurt in the slightest, then I'll make it quick. If they so much as have a scratch on them, even a stubbed toe from evading your friends, I'll make your death last all night. Then I'll give Draco his wand and let him have some fun with your brother, something tells me he'll enjoy it." That last bit was made up on the spot, and he probably wouldn't do it. But the look on her face would have given him some satisfaction if he hadn't been so worried right now. He could feel the rage within him building, but managed to tamp it down.

"Stupefy!"

Lisa put the Stunner in the back of Pansy's head, just in case Harry was tempted to try anything with her himself, thus showing them all what the parchment would do. She got an approving nod from Bill, who levitated Pansy into the air, getting rid of the ropes before he did so.

"Neville, Lisa, get over to the shop and tell whomever's there to start flooing everyone in the Order right away, this is a total emergency and we need everyone. Send someone to 12 so you can double up. If Anson is there, make sure he's restrained, Lisa, but don't hurt him if you don't have to. Get going now, we'll be along in a few minutes." Anson was the reason that he sent Lisa.

Neville and Lisa all but sprinted out the door, and Bill took a flask out of his pocket, enlarging it. It was a one shot dose of Polyjuice Potion. He took a loose hair from the shoulder of Pansy's robes, not wanting to risk that pulling a hair out of her head would violate the parchment.

"I thought that this might come in handy, unfortunately I was right. Luna, if you will please, we don't want to tip the house elves off that something is going down here." He thought it unlikely that the elves would question them, but there was no reason to take any chances.

Luna gulped the potion, somehow not making a face. She turned into Pansy, as Bill and Fleur conjured up a pair of blankets and turned them into a shroud. At Bill's signal, Luna led them out of the room, and they walked downstairs. They encountered none of the house elves, and walked calmly out the front door, Harry and Fleur levitating Pansy between them. Once out, Bill and Luna started sprinting toward the edge of the anti-Apparition wards, popping over to the shop as soon as they were clear of them. Fleur and Harry were able to job while toting Pansy, and they got clear barely 30 seconds later, taking the portkey back to 12.

Where they found Neville telling Penelope to get over to the shop pronto. He ignored them as he cut the connection, and started to call Oliver and Katie, but Harry stopped him.

"Let me get over to Hogwarts, I'll tell the teachers there."

"Are you okay mate?"

"I don't know Neville, we'll see." Far from being distracted though, Harry's mind was concentrated on the task at hand. For him there was just one priority: Finding Hermione and her parents before anything could happen to them. They could deal with Davis and Greengrass another time if necessary.

He went over to Hogwarts, after grabbing a couple of things out of his room, and found McG doing what she always did in the afternoon: paperwork.

If Minerva McGonagall could be said to like anyone in The Order the most, it would be Hermione, and only Flitwick was even close. She had looked at the young woman as a protégé almost from Hermione's first week at Hogwarts, and had had no hesitation about putting her on the faculty at the first opportunity, she had also considered offering Hermione the Transfiguration and Defense jobs. When Harry gave her the 15 second scoop about the plot, she sprung up from her chair and all but ran out of the office, with a speed that Harry had never seen her be capable of. He followed her into Flitwick's office next door, where she informed him that he was in charge of the school until she got back.

"Tell him what's going on Harry, I'll get Professors Bender and Keenan and meet you at the shop."

Harry did as he was told, and flooed back to WWW, where all of the Order, save McG, Bender, and Keenan were assembled. Anson was in a back room next to his sister, tied up and gagged, and he had not put up a fight when told to lay down his wand. Bill nodded when Harry told him that they were coming, and then said:

"Harry, you know them best, do you have any idea of where they were going today?"

"That's the problem, no. I know that they're going to a restaurant called Marvin's later on, and I'm sure we can find that easily enough."

"Marvin's?" More than one person asked that, in the crowded rear of the now closed WWW.

"One of Mr. Granger's dental regulars owns the place."

Oh.

But it highlighted their overall problem: None of them knew London, or the parents Granger, well enough to know where they would be before that, though the restaurant was less than three kilometers from the Granger house. Harry took a deep breath, then started pointing at people.

"Molly, Arthur, you go to the Granger house and stay there, just in case they come back early. Neville, Ron, I want you at the restaurant right away, take up surveillance positions and grab them as soon as they get there. And that means Daphne and Tracey if they get there first, you two know what they look like better than most of us. The rest of us will split up in pairs and start hunting at the major shopping places. All of us but Ron and Neville will go the house first though, just in case they left some indication of their itinerary. It's not out of the question that Hermione might have hoped I would join them, and left a note. " He didn't think it was a huge possibility though.

Harry took out a couple of portkeys from his pocket, with the destination of the Granger house. He kept them in 12 for emergencies, never really anticipating that they would be used. Just as he did this, Bender, Keenan, and McG arrived, completing the set. Neil and Rachel Brunsden were detailed to watch the prisoners, who in any case were Stunned.

The Order took the portkeys and left, appearing in the Granger living room, where unfortunately no one else was. Harry was racking his brain, trying to think of where they could be, but he couldn't remember if Hermione had told him what in particular they were looking for. Mr. Granger's car was gone, which made sense as there were no likely destinations within quick walking distance. While Bill and Fleur were getting rid of the seven different Listening Charms they found in the one story house, Harry spread out a map of the area on the kitchen table, and pointed to the spots that he knew about, that might possibly be Granger destinations.

He thought it was about 50/50 that the assassins would wait until the restaurant, as the Listening Charms, which Bill had disabled upon their arrival, would have told them for sure where the final stop would be.

Lisa, who had a cell phone of her own, thought of Hermione's.

"Can't you call her on her cell?"

"Shit, I can't believe I didn't think of that." He raced over to the Grangers' landline phone and quickly dialed her number.

The trouble was, a phone in the house immediately started ringing.

It was Hermione's phone, in its charger hooked up to a kitchen wall socket.

"Bugger, she must have forgotten it." 12 had no electrical outlets, the two computers were laptop models that ran on batteries when in the house, so Hermione was constantly charging her phone at odd places. He had a quick flash of inspiration, and paged down the phonebook in Hermione's cell, and found the number for her father's cell. He dialed it, praying that it would be this easy.

It wasn't.

The phone rang five times, and eventually went to an automated voice mail system.

"Dr. Granger, this is Harry. You three need to get home as quickly as you can without killing someone with your car. This is a matter of life and death. I repeat, life and death. When you get this message, call me on Hermione's cell and I'll explain everything. Do not let on to anyone else about the urgency of this message, you are being followed." He hung up, and resisted temptation to blast a curse into the nearest wall.

"They're dentists, maybe one of them is on call or something." He was praying that Mr. Granger could hold it together.

Harry saw George, who knew London better than most of them, assigning people to various high profile areas within a 10 kilometer radius of the house. Anything outside of that would have to wait until they had struck out at the nearby locations.

Bill was pairing people up, and giving instructions.

"Once you get to your assigned area, do as discreet a scan as you can possibly get away with. Odds are, there won't be many magical people out there, Hogwarts has everyone on campus, and the pureblood brigade doesn't go to many muggle shops. But whatever you do, don't get caught by any muggles. Keep in mind that they have CCTV cameras all over the place, and one of us waving a stick around is certainly going to pique their curiosity. If you do find Hermione and her parents, do everything you can to get them back here as quickly as possible. If you find Greengrass and Davis, put Tracking Charms on them at the very least and start shadowing them. Detain them if possible, kill them if it looks like they're lining up for a shot on Hermione. Once you're done, come back here. Alright, get going."

The pairs of Oliver and Katie, and George and Lisa, Apparated away from the living room, being familiar with their destinations. The rest put Disillusionment Charms on themselves and walked out of the front door, not wanting the neighbors to see a mass of people leaving the place.

Harry was working with Luna, and they were the only ones to leave visibly, because they were going next door. Harry knocked on the front door of the house to the left of the Grangers, the one pair of neighbors that he had met before. It was opened by Raymond Gould, QC.

"Hello Harry, what brings you by?" He had a lawyer's talent for remembering names and faces.

"Hello sir, this is my sister Luna. We've had a bit of an emergency come up at home and we're looking for Hermione and her parents. We know that they're on a shopping trip, but we're not sure where." Harry and Luna looked nothing alike other than being short and slim, but he was continuously surprised to find out how many bought the story of them being siblings, and he told it a lot.

Gould, after taking a second to enjoy the name Luna, was scratching his head, trying to remember. He turned to his unseen wife in the living room.

"Joyce! Did Renee tell you where they were going this afternoon?!" Renee was Mrs. Granger.

Harry and Luna couldn't hear exactly what she yelled back, but Gould could.

"Right, they were going to Jacenta's Bookshop, then to the Moran Shopping Center, at least that was the plan two hours ago right before they left, they asked us if we needed anything while they were there. They don't have their phones on them for you to call?"

Harry pulled out Hermione's phone from his pocket.

"His is turned off, she left hers in the charger. And Mrs. Granger……."

Gould finished it for him, he had lived next door to the Grangers for 15 years.

"Wants rotary phones back in style, yes. She half jokingly threatened to divorce Paul when he got his cell. Well Harry, Luna, those are the places you should try. Is there anything I can do to help with your emergency?" The Drs. Granger had spoken glowingly of their daughter's boyfriend to him over the years, even during the time that Harry and Hermione were just friends, which is why he had answered the question at all.

"No sir, you've been a huge help already. Thank you." Harry shook his hand, and he and the silent Luna walked quickly back to the Grangers' house, where Molly and Arthur were still waiting.

Harry looked over the map that George had been using, and found that Moran had been assigned to himself and Luna. Far from being pleased with the irony, Harry was wishing that they would have had more help. It was the second closest place though, and he gave Arthur the number for Hermione's phone, still in his pocket.

"Let's go Luna."

"Where are we going first?"

"It's been two hours, and while Hermione can spend all day in a bookstore, I doubt her parents will indulge her more than a couple of hours. By the time we get there, it'll be just over that. So we'll meet them at the mall." He himself had been to both places, though only once each, and Moran was a very large shopping center.

They walked out of the house, and started walking the two kilometers to Moran. Luna discreetly threw a Silencing Bubble up around them, so that they could talk freely.

"Are you really going to kill Pansy after all this?"

"Of course I am, though I was lying when I said I was going to torture her. Why? You think I shouldn't?"

"I don't like killing of any kind Harry, but I suppose it would be justified. And Anson?"

"I don't know about him, I don't know what I'll want to do there." Harry, like most Order members, viewed Anson Parkinson as an alright guy who was simply raised in the wrong environment.

"We'll get there in time, don't worry." They were both walking very quickly.

"It's Hermione's reaction that I'm worried about, once this is all said and done. She's going to be convinced that I egged Pansy on somehow, and nothing I say will be able to fix that."

Luna could all too easily believe that, her own conversations with Hermione had told her quite a bit.

"I suspect that her worry will be more to do with her parents' lives being at risk, rather than her own. Especially after having to ship them to Australia for a year."

"At least they don't remember it." He started jogging, and Luna was forced to do likewise, ending the conversation temporarily. He usually enjoyed talking with Luna about pretty much everything, but when he thought about how pissed Hermione was going to be at him, no matter how this shook out, his stomach did a tumble.

Because of the jogging, it took the two of them less than 15 minutes to get to the mall, and they were then confronted with the magnitude of their task. A decent magical scan would go out about 30 meters if the spell caster was really good at it. Harry and Luna were average at best, so they were looking at 20 meters. Harry wanted to start screaming, but instead focused.

"First thing, we're sticking together, it would be just our luck that they would pick us off one by one. How about I scan each store as we pass by, while you watch and scan the crowd?"

"Sounds like a good plan. Disguising Charms?"

That was a damned if they do, damned if they don't kind of thing as far as Harry was concerned. If they put them on, Hermione and company might miss them as they passed by. But Greengrass and Davis would miss them too.

"Yeah, we'd better, for now. Davis and Greengrass won't be looking out for us, and Hermione and her parents should be easy enough to spot."

"I hope so."

They put the charms on themselves, and entered the mall through the north entrance. Harry now really wished that they had another person there, so that person could find the Grangers' car and leave a note on it. He didn't have Lisa's cell number, he hadn't thought to ask her for it, so he would have to hope that everyone else did their searches really quickly, returned to the Granger residence, and were directed here.

Luna was looking all around as they slowly walked down the first section of the mall. Harry kept his wand in his pocket, but got close enough to each store's entrance that he could get his scan to go all the way in. But it was slow going, and by the time they were done going up and down the first section, over 20 minutes had passed. They didn't know the habits of the parents Granger well enough to be able to skip any stores, and Harry vowed to get to know them a lot better if they made it out of this fiasco.

He got better at the scanning though, and the next two sections took 30 minutes combined. But still no sign of the Grangers or their shadows. He did pick up one Wizard, in a sporting goods store, but it was a middle aged man that Harry had seen around Diagon Alley a time or two and knew to be harmless. In the fourth section of the mall's five, they ran into a big of a problem.

A multiplex movie theater. Eleven screens, all showing movies right now.

"Oh crap." He knew that Hermione liked going to the movies with her parents, and that it would be the perfect place to strike at them.

"Harry, if we go in there it could take another 30 minutes." She was thinking that they could quickly check the last section and be back here in 15 minutes.

"We have no choice, let's go."

They bought tickets for the movie Fight Club, which Harry had never heard of, but was the first title that he looked at on the marquee. They got inside, and ducking around a corner, Disillusioned themselves, so that they could wander around freely. Because Harry had heard of so few of these movies, he couldn't really rule any out, so they started at Theater One and worked their way down.

It wasn't until they got to Theater Eight, the art house screen of the multiplex that they hit pay dirt. It was a showing of Fellini's 8 ½, and something that Harry knew Hermione never would have forced him to attend. But the wide scan showed that there were three magical people in the theater, and unless there was one hell of a coincidence, this was the place. The time on the board next to the door showed that the movie had started 40 minutes ago.

Harry quickly took out the phone, and dialed the Grangers. No one picked up, but he assumed that Molly and Arthur would hear the answering machine.

"They're here at the Moran Shopping Center, in a movie theater. We're moving in now, pick up the next time the phone rings." He ended the call, and he and Luna took out their wands.

"Be careful, and be safe." He took her right hand and squeezed it for a moment. Then they walked into the theater, back under Disillusion, holding hands to keep together as they walked down the aisle.

Harry, in a moment of devilment, was tempted to yell 'FIRE' in the crowded theater, just to see what everyone would do, but he resisted. The place was 2/3 full, and had three sections, a big one in the middle and small ones on the sides. They started on the left side, with Luna scanning the small side sections, and Harry doing the main section. He knew that Hermione liked to sit in the front part of the theater, so he was not expecting his scan to 'ping' two magical people in the sixth row from the back. He came to a stop, pulling Luna to a stop along with him, as he adjusted his scan and found one magical person two rows up from the other two. It was especially hard for the poorly sighted Harry to see in the darkened theater, but the hair was definitely long for the one person. He leaned over to where he thought Luna was and barely breathed out:

"Two people in the row to my right. Let's get behind them."

"Okay."

There were four spots in the area behind the two magicals, which relieved Harry to no end. There was enough leg room that they didn't brush up against anyone as they eased through to the empty spots. They got right in behind them, and edged to the front of their seats, almost within touching distance. Harry felt Luna's mouth against his ear.

"Do you have a portkey with you? Squeeze my hand once if yes, twice if no."

Harry always carried a portkey of some sort on him, just in case. The one he had today took the user to the field outside of Bill's cottage, and was the one he usually carried. He squeezed once, her next statement coming immediately, her mouth still at his ear:

"Put your wand to her side, the next time the screen goes darkish, Stun her. I'll do the same. Then we wait for the next one and use the portkey. Squeeze once if you agree, twice if you don't."

This would leave the Grangers in there by themselves, but assuming that there were no sleeper agents somewhere else in the mall, and Pansy's answers seemed to confirm this, they would be just fine, none the wiser really. Harry squeezed once, and the plan was made. He inched his wand over to the right side of the person in front of him, assuming that the left handed Luna was doing the same to her target.

It was a very long seven minutes in the lives of Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood, but eventually the screen went mostly dark for a brief moment.

"Stupefy."

"Stupefy."

Both in urgent whispers, but there was dialogue on the screen that masked the incantations well enough. Both of their targets slumped in their chairs, knocked out. Harry let go of Luna's hand for a moment, fished in his pocket, and pulled out a rabbit's foot, his preferred type of portkey. He and Luna held on to it for another five minutes, then their opportunity came. They grabbed on to the arms of their quarry, and:

"Activate."

The four of them disappeared from the theater, and reappeared within sight of Weasley Cottage. Harry got his bearings, shook his head, and aimed his wand at the fallen forms of whom he hoped was Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, his old schoolmates.

"Finite Incantatem!"

"Finite Incantatem!"

The Glamour Charms melted away, revealing Davis and Greengrass, and Harry breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Thank God. That was some plan you came up with Luna, brilliant you are as always." He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed, and she half-hugged him back.

"Now what do we do Harry?"

"We get these two back to the shop, where they can join their buddies." He checked his watch, the movie still had well over an hour to go. He levitated Davis, and Luna did likewise with Greengrass. They started walking toward the cottage, as Harry did not have a WWW portkey on him, but he knew that Bill kept a couple in the house.

"Are we going to tell Hermione?"

"We'd better be there when they get out, yes. But no need to pull them out of the theater now. We have some time." And it wouldn't take nearly as long to get to the theater, now that he and Luna had the location pegged for Apparition.

They got to the cottage in short order, and decided to take the floo. Luna went first, and Harry shoved the bodies into the fireplace one at a time. The Brunsdens were very happy to see that things had worked out, and readily agreed to keep watch until the others got back. After a stop at the Grangers' to let Arthur and Molly know, and finding out that no one had checked in as of yet, Harry and Luna Apparated back to the movie theater, where they found that there were still 45 minutes to go in the film. A toy store was nearby, and while Harry had made good his toy store promise to Teddy the day before, he was always on the lookout for new things. He and Luna whiled away the time, and even made a couple of purchases, before walking the ten meters back to the theater.

Two movies were letting out at roughly the same time, but the Grangers were easy enough to spot as they came out. Harry and Luna were no longer in disguise of course, and Hermione's eyes went a bit wide as she saw them.

"Uh oh, what happened?"

"A few things went on while you were away, but they're more or less fixed now. I think we need to talk about this in private, like say in the car." Harry's left hand was behind his back, fingers crossed that she wouldn't put up a fight about coming.

This confused the parents Granger, but they didn't resist as Hermione led them all to the parking lot. She could see that Harry didn't seem worried, and Luna was being Luna, even seeming a bit more chipper than usual. Once inside the car though:

"Okay, what's going on?" Hermione was in the back of the car with Harry and Luna.

Harry did a quick scan of the car, and found another Listening Charm. He took care of it before saying anything.

"First, you missed a Listening Charm in this car, and seven in the house. SEVEN!"

Luna had not said anything since they met up, and couldn't help but wonder at Harry going on offense here, as Hermione replied:

"What were you doing in the house?" Her mind was already reeling though, at seven Listening Charms being in her house, and of course she was wondering for how long, and who put them there.

"Trying to find you in order to foil an assassination attempt by Pansy Parkinson."

"WHAT!?!"

"We were at the Malfoys a visit that was disturbing on many levels by itself, and Bill and I decided to find out her endgame here and now. Well we found it out alright, it was you, dead. In the ensuing chaos I would be rebounded to her and marry her. She does not love me, nor does she believe I love her."

He spent a couple of minutes relating the events of the day, ending with:

"So it ended well enough, no one has been hurt, yet."

"Yet?"

"Well some people have a bill due." Said in a flat, calm voice that nonetheless spoke volumes.

Hermione's parents got a chill all of a sudden, as confused as they still were. He had explained that they were considered to be collateral targets, and the interrogations of Davis and Greengrass would tell them all a lot more. Mr. Granger wasn't sure whether or not to congratulate Harry and Luna for stopping the assassination or blame Harry for it being in play in the first place. So he kept quiet, while his wife asked:

"So we're out of danger now, correct?"

"I am assuming so, yes. But we don't know if our would-be killers had a backup plan ready. Ron and Neville are at the restaurant keeping watch if you still want to go."

"Maybe we should postpone this until tomorrow night, no need to take any chances." Mrs. Granger was more worried than she let on, but Harry looked confident enough to her, so she tamped it down.

Mr. Granger agreed with his wife by starting the car, and within five minutes they were pulling into their garage. There was little conversation, other than Harry chiding him for turning his cell phone off long before they were in the movie theater.

By now pretty much the entire Order was in the house, minus Ron, Neville, and the Brunsdens turned jailers, though the first two were quickly fetched. They were all relieved to see that Hermione was safe, and Paul and Renee Granger were even a bit touched to see how much all of these people cared for their daughter. For years she had spoken to them only about Ron and Harry, and even then in broad generalities for the most part. But this group brought it home for them, what kind of world their daughter truly lived in.

Or lived in for now, a lot of the bookstore visit had been spent talking about Oxford and whether or not she should go. Hermione had been planning to talk to Harry about this after tomorrow's events, but now she decided that he should know now. They walked up to her bedroom, which was still as she had left it.

"I've decided to resign from Hogwarts, effective at the end of June. I'm going to attend Oxford next fall."

Harry was still surprised, much as he should not have been.

"Well I know you've been talking about, what pushed you over the edge?"

"This whole business, what we're having to do just to keep the peace."

"What's McGonagall going to say?" He knew that the Headmistress would try every trick in the book, and a few that weren't, to get her favorite student to stay.

"There's nothing she can say, I've made up my mind. I'll mail Oxford on Monday that I'm accepting the deferred admission for next fall."

"Well I support you no matter what, you know that."

"I appreciate that." She took a deep breath.

"We probably do need to talk about today." Her voice was somewhat firm.

"You have a right to be mad Hermione, no doubt about that. But save that anger for those that deserve it."

"Meaning not you."

Harry had been afraid of this, even though it still pissed him off to a slight extent.

"Damn right not me, in fact I would have thought some thanks were in order. I did not encourage that woman to do anything like this, nor would it have worked. She was trying out psychological warfare on someone that she didn't know very well at all, and it would have backfired."

"How so?" She still wasn't say thank you, either.

"Let's say, for a minute, that her plot had worked and you would have died. I would have force fed Veritaserum down the throat of everyone in the Order until I got the answers I was looking for. Including her. No rebound is that powerful Hermione. I never in a million years would have fallen for that, and that she thinks I would have, just proves how stupid she really is. The wedding thing, just shows that she got lucky, not that she's smart."

"You have a point, several of them. She was basing her strategy on the old you, the impulsive one."

"The boy, not the man. That's these peoples' biggest mistake, in thinking that we're all still kids looking to Dumbledore to decide everything. Well he's gone, and if you don't mind a bit of immodesty, Bill and I are doing a much better job than he did running the Order."

"Again, I can't disagree." Hermione was now in the uncomfortable position of having logic push her into a corner, something she was accustomed to doing to others.

"But?"

"But I don't know how much longer I can put my parents in danger like this."

"Well start checking the place for Listening Charms more often than once a year, and they'd have been a lot safer." Harry just couldn't resist this shot, especially given that he checked the far more secure 12 almost every night before bed. He couldn't believe that Hermione was ducking all responsibility for this, especially after the all hands on deck effort that the Order had just made for her and her parents.

Hermione flushed a bit before conceding another point.

"Yes, I should have been more vigilant, given who we were dealing with."

Another deep breath.

"I need this to end Harry. Not you and me, I want that to last forever. But I need this war, or whatever we're involved in to end."

It would dawn on Harry later that night that she had not sounded 100 percent convincing when she said that about the two of them and forever. But he did not notice it now.

"It will soon, I promise. Look, if Robards wins, we can always emigrate, the whole lot of us. We just set up shop in France and go to work for the Delacours, or even go to the States if need be. Losing does not have to mean death."

"Will he allow that though?"

"Any victory he has will come at such a high cost that he won't be able to come after us. I'll make sure of that. And then, one day, when he's all fat and happy and complacent like Fudge was, I'll pay him a visit. But that won't have to happen, we'll win now."

Hermione really wanted to believe that, but instead of going on about it, she changed the subject.

"So what happens to Pansy and Anson?"

"She dies, he goes under drugs and we take a vote based on the results. But she's history, no one organizes a hit on someone I love and gets away with it." There was no way he would accept a vote on Pansy, and he hoped that even the most dovish of Order members would accept that.

This could have been a statement of bravado by Harry, like something out of a movie. But he said it so clinically, dispassionately, that it gave Hermione a start.

"I guess I can't really object, not that I want to."

"You want her dead?"

"God help me Harry, but yes I do. She was going to have me killed, all so that she could get her hands on your money, and your cachet. As if 18 million galleons wasn't enough." Hermione didn't know what Harry was worth, except that he had told her that it was more than the Malfoys, but she assumed it was quite a bit higher, after all those years of compounding interest.

"What does every person with money want? More money."

"Except you."

"Me, and a few others, I'm not quite so unique. I don't even spend what I make in salary and bonuses right now, though your university fees will make a dent in it." Harry made less money than any starting player for his favorite football team Chelsea, but his taxes and expenses were correspondingly much lower as well.

"My parents have the money set aside." One thing they had quickly gotten settled at the bookstore was that the parents Granger were perfectly able to pay for their only child's education.

"Yeah right, like I would let them pay for it. Please." Harry thought that this was fine note to end things on, and he pulled Hermione into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

"Thanks to you." She squeezed back.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

They held each other for a moment, then went back downstairs. Most of the Order were gone, back to their lives, or in some cases, to the shop and their prisoners. McG and Bender were still there, talking with the parents Granger about what a great job Hermione was doing as a teacher. Harry pulled Mr. Granger aside for a moment.

"Look sir, I know you must want to peel off a bit of hide for me putting Hermione in this situation."

"I can't say that I'm pleased that your intervention was needed in the first place, but thank you all the same for doing what you did."

"It's going to be over soon, I can almost promise you that. That said, there are some wards that I can put up here, that will at the very least give you fair warning if you're about to be attacked or someone else tries to put Charms on your house without your say so. They won't interfere with any muggles that come in here in the slightest, they'd only affect us."

"And Hermione."

"Yes, but they wouldn't harm her. I've been doing some reading about Protective Charms, and this seems like a good test case to try them on. I just don't want anything to happen to either of you before we get this situation all sorted."

"How much danger is Hermione in, really?"

"Less than most of us. Look sir, if Robards is going to start something blatant, he's going to want to get rid of Bill and me first. But we're also the most careful of the lot of us, and the most able to defend ourselves."

"But Hermione will be with you."

"She spends the bulk of her time in my house and Hogwarts, both of which are warded to the teeth, and safer than anyplace in Britain other than our bank. I wouldn't want to be the Wizard or Witch who comes to my house, looking for trouble."

Paul Granger didn't know if his daughter had told Harry about Oxford or not, though he badly wanted to see the young man's reaction. So he let all of this drop for now.

"Well in any case, thank you for what you did today."

"You're welcome sir.

They shook hands, and soon Harry was off to WWW. Bender and McGonagall had been invited to dinner, and would stay to watch over everything. As Harry was about to Apparate away, Hermione hugged him again.

"Hermione, do you want to be there when it happens to her?" He felt that he had to ask.

"No, I don't think that I do. Just do me one favor?"

"Anything."

"Don't torture her, don't be like them."

"I just said what I said to her to see if she'd piss herself. That's all. I'll make it quick."

"Good. Be careful."

She kissed him, and turned to go back to the others.

Harry Apparated back to WWW, where he found Bill already interrogating Tracey Davis.

They learned that she and Daphne had been waiting for the go ahead from Pansy for over a month, and were to be paid 20,000 galleons each upon the successful killing of Hermione. She, and Greengrass later, would say that they knew nothing of Pansy's Order activities, nor anything about the events of the wedding beyond the vows and cake cutting and all that. They had no backup plan for taking out Hermione this day, not thinking that they would need it against one Witch and her muggle parents, especially once the Listening Charms told them that Harry would not be going along on the shopping trip.

All told it took 30 minutes, and the two of them were Stunned again, their fates would be decided later on, according to Bill. In his own mind though, the two of them were dead women sitting.

Anson, of course, was a stickier wicket. He admitted under the drugs that he had suspected that Pansy had something like this in mind, eventually. But nothing so soon, and so blatant.

"If she had come to you with this specific plan, would you have tried to talk her out of it?"

"I don't know Bill, I really don't. I would not have told you lot about it, she's my sister after all. But I don't want Hermione dead, and I doubt that I would have actively helped if Pansy had asked me to."

Bill still didn't know what to do here.

"You're aware that your sister will be dead within the hour, right?"

"I would imagine."

"That leaves us in a pickle of what to do with you."

"I guess it would."

"Would you seek revenge on us for killing your sister?"

"Yes." The honest answer.

"That's all I needed to know. Stupefy."

He turned to look at all of his siblings, plus Harry, Luna, Neville, and Lisa.

"The vote is off, he dies tomorrow with Lucius and Draco. Lucius' sister will get everything and we'll just have to pray that she's reasonable, or more so that her brother." He looked at them, and dared anyone to challenge his decision.

But none did, as this was a picked crew of people. The only ones who might argue were in The Burrow and the Granger dining room right now.

Now for Pansy, and Harry didn't say a word to her as Bill got her to admit that she had thought up the Hermione plan after her last Veritaserum questioning, though the seeds were already in her mind, and Harry and Bill had not asked the right questions either. She too did not have a backup plan in place for Hermione's demise, nor did she have any current intentions of killing anyone besides Hermione. She repeated under the drugs that she did not love Harry, but that she found him very useful for her future plans, however unformed they were at this time.

Once all of that was exhausted, and the Veritaserum about to expire, then Harry spoke to her:

"Do you have anything to say before I kill you?"

"Please don't kill me. Just keep me prisoner somewhere, forever if need be." The truth as she knew it.

Harry walked up to her, and put his wand in her ear. He felt no burning hatred for this woman, but he knew that this needed to happen, and in this way.

"Reducto!"

Pansy's head slumped forward, she was dead.

End Chapter


	40. Geese and Ganders

Saturday, December 6, 1999, continued

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Shop

7:30 pm

The assembled Order members just stared at the dead body of Pansy Parkinson Malfoy, who was technically one of their own. Another of their own was in the other room, Anson, and Harry was trying to find a reason not to march in there and get rid of him right then. He looked at Bill, who shook his head in the negative, he could tell what his friend was thinking.

"You okay Harry?" He was trying not to sound patronizing.

"I'm fine Bill, thanks. What about our would-be assassins?"

"They'll be liquidated tomorrow in the fire. But I have a plan for that, something different."

Bill spoke for about 10 minutes, outlining what he wanted them all to do, ending with.

"I'll continue with the role of Lucius Malfoy, Harry will be Draco, and Charlie will do Yaxley. Luna, will you do another turn as Pansy?" He knew Charlie would be in, but Luna was a different story.

"Oh of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world." As if she was going to be on London stage instead of in Malfoy Manor.

"Good to hear. Everyone meets here at 9:00 am so that we can empty out that house of anything useful for the war. Valuables are to be left alone, antiques, jewels and things of that nature. We're soldiers, not thieves."

Neville had a different view of things.

"Soldiers have been looting since the beginning of war Bill, and I think we need to get something for our trouble." And they had gone to a lot of trouble in the last few months.

"We did, this morning on the way here to meet up, I withdrew 1.1 million galleons from the Malfoy account. The point one will go to us, for expenses and the like, while the rest was anonymously donated to St. Mungo's. I'm contemplating further donations, but sister Malfoy will be a rich woman come next year no matter what."

100,000 galleons would buy a lot of portkeys and floo powder, and even Harry looked satisfied, given that he was the one paying for it all. Likewise a million galleons would essentially fund St. Mungo's for the year 2000 by itself. They could all picture the place's administrator and it's comptroller jumping up and down and doing a dance. Of course it was stealing, technically, but they all told themselves it was war reparations.

"So anyway, everyone go relax the rest of the night, we'll see you in the morning."

They all filed out except for Harry, who noticed that Fleur wasn't leaving either. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing though, he could use some female advice perhaps.

Bill waited until the last person had closed the door behind them, and didn't waste any time.

"So how pissed is she?"

"I think she might have dumped me, if it wouldn't have looked like ingratitude." That feeling had been gnawing at Harry ever since the hug goodbye at the door, and it felt kind of good to let it out into the open.

"That bad eh?"

"She's tired Bill, tired of all of this. Not to mention that she's worried about her parents."

Greengrass and Davis had both said that they would have killed Paul and Renee Granger only if they had had a clear shot at them, and only after Hermione was taken care of. What a 'clear shot' meant to each of them was open to interpretation of course, and Harry knew that.

"That's understandable. But we did go to some effort today to help them." Bill thought that it wasn't a bad show on their part, though perhaps he needed to figure out a way to do a drill or something.

"Yes we did, and like I said, that's probably what stopped her. She's leaving Hogwarts in June, to go to muggle university, or so she told me." Harry thought that there was a chance that the emotion of the day had led Hermione to make that decision, and that she might walk it back.

Bill knew then that Harry and Hermione were headed for an unfortunate end. He couldn't fathom a university student trying to live a double life, half in one world, half in the other, with the muggle half not even knowing about the magical half. He had had friends from Hogwarts try it in the past, and it had never gone very well. He could just picture Hermione trying to bring muggle friends home to 12, with its crotchety house elf and centuries old décor. And it's lack of electricity. Even Harry, or so Bill thought, barely fit in the muggle world any longer. He had seen his friend walk, seemingly casually, down the street…….but there was an alertness, even paranoia, there that no law abiding muggle 19 year old possessed. And it made Harry stand out.

"Something tells me that you aren't going to be matriculating yourself."

"Ha ha, I'd get a quarter of the way into A Levels and probably want to slit my wrists."

"You could always just do some magic with the admissions people, it's been done before." Bill wanted to see where Harry was thinking.

"No thanks, I've all but told Clive that I'm back next season. I haven't told McGonagall of course, she'll still want me at Hogwarts, but Teddy needs me at home more. I'll probably resign as Flying Instructor too." He would wait a decent interval before doing so, depending on when Hermione was going to tell her. But the resignation was something he had thought about even before the Hermione thing came up.

"Maybe you and Hermione will get back on track now, with the Pansy distraction being eliminated."

Harry took that to mean something different than Bill had intended though.

"That is not why I killed her!"

Bill immediately held up his hands, as his wife was kind of glaring at him.

"No, no, of course not. She needed to die Harry, just like the other three in there need to go too, and Lucius and Draco. But Pansy first, because she was so……what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Close to success?" Fleur was just trying to be helpful.

"Something like that, thank you Fleur. No, she would not have gotten your hand in marriage Harry, but stranger things have happened."

"Nothing that strange, I promise you. Why aren't we taking care of those three right now? Why take the chance of something happening?"

Bill was willing to concede the point, but like everyone else, he was not wild about the idea of killing Anson.

"Alright, but let's hold off on brother Parkinson until tomorrow, I want to think some more about how we might be able to spare him. Take him back to 12 tonight, so he's secure. The hapless killers, yeah, let's do that right now." Bill didn't sound happy about killing two people right now, but they had been targeting one of his friends, and her innocent parents.

Harry and Bill both repeated the Pansy killing, a simple Reducto in the ear, as Harry killed Tracey Davis and Bill took care of Daphne Greengrass. And now not only was the Slytherin putative Class of 1998 down yet two more members, with Draco to join them, two more pureblood families were down possible heirs. Tomorrow would only make it worse for the pureblood brigade.

As they left, and after Fleur was conveniently through the floo, Bill had one last word. He had not really learned his lesson from telling Harry that sowing his oats might not be such a bad idea.

"Harry, just for the record……..if you and Hermione do split up, don't think that your next girlfriend has to come from our circle. I mean security is great and all, and I don't see it working with a muggle besides, but just know that you have options."

"Beyond Luna and your sister? Or particularly your sister?" They were the only single women of his age group in the Order.

"I would rather that you and Ginny didn't try again, yes. But I'm not going to warn you not to, or suggest that you shouldn't, I know how counterproductive that would be."

"Just because I asked her to be my non-paying tenant and babysitter, doesn't mean that I want to get back together with her." He really didn't.

"True enough, but do you think that maybe you sent some signals that might be misinterpreted?"

"I offered her a room, and made it clear that it wasn't mine." He had made it clear, right?

"I believe you, but Ginny is the problem. She probably still has her thing for you."

"That's her problem, not mine. I'm not going there again, period." He tried to say it as definitively as he could.

Bill knew that this was the point where he should warn Harry against doing a 'friends with benefits option with Ginny, but to this day he didn't know whether or not Harry and Ginny had had sex during their time together, and he was afraid he would find out if he pressed Harry any harder.

"I'm glad to hear it, both as her brother and your friend."

Harry just looked at him for a moment, and Bill got the feeling that he had gone a bit too far. But then:

"I don't blame you for talking to me about her, you're the only one with the stones to do it, so far."

The others all had their various reasons for avoiding it: Ron knew that anything he said would be taken the wrong way, George figured he had pushed the Pansy thing so hard that it wouldn't help things to butt in here, Percy was abroad, and Charlie was secretly hoping that Harry and Ginny would indeed get back together, though he hadn't told anyone that.

Hermione did not come home that night, though she did tell Harry that via her cell phone and Lisa's, saying that her mother was still a little shook up by the day's events, and Hermione wanted to be with her. Harry's heart dropped a little, especially when she said that he didn't need to come over, as he had offered.

So instead he played some games with Teddy, needing some lightness in his life before the bloodbath the next day, and the likely dumping of him by his girlfriend. It was only halfway through a stressful weekend.

Sunday, December 7, 1999

Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement

9:00 am

Amos Diggory was visiting his office to get some work to do this afternoon at home, when his door opened, and Kingsley walked in.

"Kingsley." He would never understand how Kingsley's wife allowed him to spend seven days a week at the office.

"Amos, I have some news."

"What is it?"

"The True Voice organization is having a meeting today, everyone is to attend."

Amos had been about to leave, instead he sat back down, this was big.

"What time is the meeting? Where?"

"Mid-afternoon, I didn't get a specific time. It's at the Malfoys' place."

"You want a presence there? Or you want to raid it?" Amos was, technically speaking, Kinglsey's immediate superior. But he knew the score.

"A presence at the very least, but a raid could be feasible." Kingsley didn't have the manpower to take on 90 plus Death Eaters and friends, and he and Diggory knew it, but he wanted to see Amos' reaction.

"On what grounds? If you invade that house on a flimsy pretext, they'll attack your people and claim self defense. They technically haven't broken any laws have they?" Amos hated Lucius Malfoy as much as anyone, but he also valued the appearance of justice, not just the practice of it.

"If we can get a full idea of their exact numbers, and what their agenda is, we won't need to attack them now."

Diggory could appreciate that, but something was troubling him. He got out a piece of paper and scribbled down a few words.

_Let's go for a walk_.

Kingsley nodded, clearly his 'boss' wanted to talk somewhere private. They strode up to the elevator, and used the executive key that each of them carried, which took them straight up to the entrance to muggle London. After a block of walking up there, Kingsley finally spoke:

"What's on your mind Amos?"

"Where did you find out your information?" That wasn't what was on his mind, but he wanted to get Kingsley talking.

"One of our Knockturn informants overheard it, and sold it to us." Other than employee salaries and benefits, informant payoffs were the largest DMLE expense.

"You trust it?"

"The woman has given us good information before, why?"

Amos ignored the question, and got to his point.

"If you can find out, The Order of the Phoenix can find out."

"I would imagine, so?"

"Why haven't they gone on the attack yet?"

Kingsley was fairly surprised, but then again quite a bit about Amos surprised him. He secretly suspected that the man had never really gotten over his son's death, and how it had happened. For whatever reason, Pius Thicknesse had kept him on in The Ministry, even though Voldemort and Pettigrew must have known about the grudge.

"They haven't needed to have they? Lucius is intent on his propaganda campaign combined with trying to pester Harry until he snaps." Those attempts never failed to amuse Kingsley, though he would never tell Harry that.

"Will he?"

"Eventually, yes he will. But until then, there's no need for them to go on offense."

"You really believe that? Or you hope that?"

"Both, if you want the truth." He stopped suddenly in the street, as if realizing something.

"You want to tell me what's really on your mind Amos?"

"Why are we being so hands off of Lucius and his people? Why is Robards so curious about the inner workings of the Order, while seemingly not so curious about what happens with Malfoy?"

Kingsley didn't know what to say here, or even what the older man wanted to hear, he was at a loss. He thought for a moment, and then replied:

"I guess he views Harry and Bill as his future political rivals. The Minister is only 44, he'll still be around when Bill is eligible to be Minister, and likewise when Harry is as well. Malfoy is not a political rival as of yet, and probably won't be, not with the tinge of failure he has wrapped around him."

"True, but Malfoy is the one who is prone to advocating violence to get what he wants, while Potter and Weasley seem more likely to wait until provoked."

"I won't dispute that, but Harry's popularity, and dare I say 'legend' are bigger factors, and he'll bring Bill along for the ride." Kingsley felt as most of the Order did, that while Harry probably didn't run Bill in the truest sense of the word, the older man listened to him more than anyone else.

"Is The Minister afraid of that legend? Are we going to have Fudge and Dumbledore all over again?"

Kingsley had seen the parallels too, and couldn't deny them. And he didn't try to with Amos.

"I don't know what's going on here completely. I have the ear of Gawain Robards, yes. But he only takes my advice with one ear, he doesn't tell me what he's really thinking. And Harry is willing to listen, but on some level it's just to keep me placated, the young man really only listens to himself."

"Why do you think that is?" Amos was more than a little curious about Harry Potter, the man.

"Because the people who were supposed to be his mentors all failed him. Dumbledore abandoned him to the muggles, then let him twist too many times at Hogwarts, hoping to toughen him up for the final battle. Remus never intervened with the muggles or really spoke up for him, nor did the Weasley parents. And don't get me started on Sirius Black, who should have thought less about revenge on Peter Pettigrew and more on the one year old baby he was to care for. His hotheaded idiocy put him in Azkaban for 12 years, though I agree that he was railroaded in there in the end. In other words, all the people he has trusted to be his mentors in the past have let him down in very big ways. I only wonder how long it will take Bill to do the same." The sooner the better, Kingsley thought.

"You sound bitter about all of that."

"It's such a waste Amos, what could have been. Please tell me that you don't still blame Harry for Cedric."

The reply was immediate.

"Of course I don't, I blame Dumbledore, who is dead and beyond my ability to curse him."

"You're not the only one who blames him." He found it interesting that the man didn't blame the Malfoys, at least not first and not out loud.

Then Amos shifted things a bit, though still on the topic of Harry.

"Did you see this morning's Daily Prophet?" The Sunday issue typical was delivered by 8:00 am, and most people who were up, and about, had at least skimmed it by now.

"Not yet, why?"

"An editorial, attacking The Ministry for doing nothing about The True Voice while it slanders The Boy Who Lived. It has information that could only have been gotten from higher up Ministry sources……..or from the Order."

"Oh shit." That came out very involuntarily, and Kingsley immediately regretted it. But the damage was done.

"Which do you think it is?"

"I certainly hope it's a disgruntled Ministry department Head." It was a faint hope though, as Kingsley's counter-intelligence measures were many and thorough.

"And if it isn't?"

"Then the Malfoys, and us, are in big trouble if Harry and the Quirkes have finally made peace."

"You think that likely?"

"I wouldn't have no, since it didn't happen after The Battle of Hogwarts. If Quirke would have reached out an olive branch, it should have been then. But there was no sign, nothing, other than a natural cessation of their digs at him, him being the hero and all. Since then I've figured it would just be a matter of time before the digs started coming, to sell more papers. No, he must have been waiting for Harry to come to him, cap in hand. Oh I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting." Kingsley actually started chuckling, which had the welcome effect of unnerving his 'boss'.

"The idea of Harry cap in hand?"

Kingsley continued to sound bemused:

"It's not a situation that comes naturally to him, I promise. You should hear him with me, demanding, not asking, but in a humorous enough way that it takes the edge off. For all his pretensions about not playing on the Boy Who Lived mystique, he does it quite a bit. But it's all so subtle, all those months of not sleeping have made quite the change in him."

"Is there a way to find out if he and Quirke made a deal?"

"Nothing that pops easily to mind. The Order just can't be penetrated right now, and I doubt if Quirke would tell anyone but his Board of Directors, and they all have Quirke as part of their names. If he'd even tell them. No, we have to watch the Prophet and start divining things from it. But first things first, let's worry about The True Voice meeting."

"Fair enough."

He started walking back toward the Ministry entrance, while Kingsley was still trying to figure out what this meeting was all about. Then it hit him, maybe.

"Are you considering making an approach to Harry? An olive branch of your own perhaps?"

"That would be a direct slap at The Minister." Who had more or less made it clear that The Order was not to be associated with unless he authorized it ahead of time.

He said no more, and walked the rest of the way back in silence, one matched by Kingsley. The Head Auror had a meeting to infiltrate though, and since Amos hadn't objected, he took it that he had permission. He debated on whether to go to Robards and tell him about the signals Diggory was giving out……but after some mental arguing, he decided to keep it hidden for now. Let Amos show his hand first.

Five minutes after they got back, there was a knock on the door of The Minister. After being bade to enter, the woman silently padded in, and played a recording for her boss. Gawain Robards listened intently, and then gave out some instructions.

Malfoy Manor

2:00 pm

9:00 am at WWW had rolled around, and all of the fighting Order showed up, as Bill liked to call them. The fighting Order didn't include its auxiliary members, nor most of the Hogwarts teachers. Only Hermione of them was a part of it, and to the surprise of everyone she showed up. She slipped her hand into Harry's, and whispered to him that she was going to Malfoy Manor, and would support whatever they did there. He took her aside, pretending that everyone was not staring at them.

"Are you okay?" Yesterday it seemed like she was going to check out on them, and today it looked like she was raring to go. Maybe she hit her head or something.

"I'm fine Harry, I just needed some time to think about things."

"Like?" He noticed that she did seem to have a new resolve.

"What happened yesterday, what's been happening. I blamed you a little bit for what she did, when I really should have been blaming her. And I should have been more careful with the house, I guess I got so used to 12, which is so secure, even though you're always checking anyway." Hermione didn't mention that she had been wondering a bit about that kind of paranoia from her beau, but she was wondering no longer.

"And Oxford?"

"That I'm still doing, we'll get me a dummy flat or something in Oxford, for appearances." She only hoped that Teddy didn't start showing Metamorphagus signs before she finished school, that would be hard to explain to muggles.

"So we're okay?" It sure seemed that way, and Harry was a little flummoxed.

"I love you, I'm not letting these people tear us apart."

Harry was now not so worried about oats, sown or not, and the look of relief was writ large on his face. He ignored the looks from the others and enveloped her in a tight hug.

"You had me worried there for a bit."

"I'm sorry. Let's just take care of things today, and we can have some quiet time tonight."

More than just Harry's heart jumped at hearing that, but he didn't say anything. They rejoined the others, and a few minutes later they took their portkey ride over to Malfoy Manor, after Bill, Charlie, Luna, and Harry took their Polyjuice drinks, with hip flasks attached.

They had five hours to re-ransack the house, and Bill and Harry made a beeline for the secret room. Together they spent 90 minutes, alone, culling the files of anyone and everyone they thought would help them, or be a threat to them. Once that was done, they emptied the filing cabinets and stacked the remaining files in the center of the room. Bill pulled out a small bottle of muggle lighter fluid, and start squirting all over the very large pile. With a nod to Harry then, who aimed his wand:

"Incendio."

A tongue of flame shot out of Harry's wand, immediately igniting the lighter fluid. The folder pile didn't exactly go up like a roman candle, but the Order pair were soon very warm. They watched the blaze for about fifteen minutes, protected by a Shield Charms of course, making sure that it didn't spread to the rest of the room, and then put it out. The files, aside from the ones they wanted to keep, were destroyed.

The rest of them were poking around, putting up Listening Charms, and generally exploring. Lucius had more Dark Artifacts than most of them had ever heard of, and Bill approved of a little looting there, and pretended to look the other way when the definition of 'a little' got stretched beyond reason.

Bill managed to ignore it, because he dragged his wife, Harry, Charlie playing Yaxley, Oliver, and Katie over to the Yaxley house near Bristol. That was part two of their plan. They did some recon work, took down all of the wards, saving the Muggle Repelling Charms, and put up their booby traps. That too took quite a while, and Bill had to hurry them along, as it was almost 1:00 pm, barely an hour before the meeting. As they left, Fleur gave Harry a thumbs up.

"So you see Harry my friend, perhaps you were worried over nothing at all?" Said with a smug 'I knew this would all work out' kind of smile on her face.

"You know Fleur, I never really will fathom the female mind."

"We are a mystery, yes."

They got back to Malfoy Manor to find everyone else eating lunch in the formal dining room. Food was immediately ordered for the newcomers, and they relaxed for a bit as the elves served them.

The house elves, of course, knew that their master, his son, and the son's new bride weren't really in the house. House elves are far more wise than even the sympathetic to them Order people realized. But they had no instructions from their real master, the real Lucius, on what to do if someone impersonating the family came into the house and started digging through it. The Malfoy elves had strict instructions not to deviate from their routine unless ordered to by their master. And he was currently asleep in The Chamber of Secrets at present, not in any condition to be giving anyone orders.

The first True Voice people started arriving at 1:45, and the floo was kept busy for the next 15 minutes as people arrived by the bucket load. By 2:05, the entire gang was there, and Bill called the meeting to order. All 93 members of The True Voice were there, including the two Hogwarts students in the group. Only Narcissa and Anson, from the list Lucius had given them, were not there. Of course four of the True Voice folk were played by Bill, Harry, Charlie, and Luna.

"Alright, we're all busy people, so let us not waste time, shall we?" Bill had done one last Veritaserum session that morning, forcing Lucius to talk non-stop for 20 minutes, so that Bill could get down his tone and cadence. Harry already had that with Draco, as did Luna with Pansy. Charlie had declined to do the same with Yaxley, as he wouldn't be saying much.

"I have some announcements to make. First, Yaxley and I have finally buried the hatchet, so to speak, and we are now in full accord on the direction that The True Voice is to take for the immediate, and for the long-term future of our organization. We will continue to share responsibility, and invite all forms of feedback from you."

Some murmuring at this last bit, and Bill gave his best oily smile in return.

"Yes, I know, not what you are accustomed to hearing from me. But we are entering a new phase of our fight, and we need every person's best from here on in. Trust me, there are enough spoils to go around."

Any muggle political analyst could tell you that when someone says 'trust me', you should immediately check for the location of your wallet. But these people ate it up, and Bill's oily smile grew.

"Thank you. Next, Yaxley and I would like a dozen volunteers for a special mission. It will be hazardous potentially, but if successful, it would have untold benefits. Draco will supervise the planning of it, while Yaxley will be the leader of the team."

"What is it?"

That was Castor Parkinson, who had gotten there right as the meeting started, and had not had a chance to ask Bill/Lucius about the murder of Narcissa, which was still barely eight days old. He would get his chance though, later, he had not talked to his daughter this weekend either.

"A raid into Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Home of one Mr. Harry Potter."

A hush fell over the room, and Bill quickly continued.

"Your mission will be to kill Potter, Granger, Longbottom, and any and all Weasleys living there. Only my great-nephew, Theodore Lupin, is to be spared. He is merely a child, and has abilities that may be of great benefit to us, if he is raised in the correct manner, and not by muggle lovers like Potter and the Weasleys, and their mudblood bitch." Bill prayed that Hermione, under a Glamour Charm at present, did not react visibly to his necessary acting.

"I am not going to ask for an open show of hands, this mission is not for the faint of heart and I do not want bravado forcing people to volunteer. No, Draco and Pansy will be passing around slips of paper. You will write your name on the paper and put a 'yes' or a 'no' on it. I want to stress that not volunteering for the mission will in no way, shape, or form lower our estimation of you and your particular talents. In no way. Please volunteer or not with that in mind. Draco, Pansy, if you please."

Harry and Luna passed out the slips, as well as some muggle ball point pens with which to make their marks with. The entire process took 20 minutes, and the two of them collected the bits of paper after everyone was finished.

"Thank you all. On another matter, one potentially more important. I have opened up tentative negotiations with Gawain Robards."

Now there was an explosion, figuratively, as everyone in the room start talking, or yelling.

Charlie/Yaxley put his wand to his throat:

"OY!"

He looked so nasty that most of them quieted down immediately, and the rest within a few seconds.

"Thank you Yaxley. It would appear as though our dear Minister shares our views toward pureblood supremacy, and a hatred of Harry Potter and the Weasley clan, and their acolytes. This is welcome news for us, and I can guarantee that the Minister was being straightforward with Yaxley and myself. I have asked Robards to appear at our next meeting, to solidify our alliance, and he has accepted. All that remains for us is to decide if we want his help at that meeting, or his head. That is the focus of today's gathering, do we want peace and an alliance with The Minister of Magic, and The Ministry itself?" Break off into your individual units and do some talking about it. Then elect a spokesperson to talk with Yaxley and myself about the situation. I want to hear every viewpoint. I cannot stress that enough, so I am repeating it. If we are to prevail, we need every idea that we can get."

Bill was digging this more and more, and was very tempted to alter the plan and continue to be the Head of both The True Voice, and The Order. He didn't know how he was going to produce Gawain Robards or a reasonable facsimile at the next meeting, but that was just a detail.

The individual groups were nothing more than training cells devised by the real Lucius and the real Yaxley. They were ten people, and utilized each person's individual skills, expertise, or in some cases family relationships.

Food was served to everyone, and Harry and Luna went out of the room with Bill and Charlie to look over the pieces of paper. It took a lot less time to cull the 'yes, let me kill those people' papers from the 'no thanks, but good luck' notes. Of the 88 legitimate members, 17 volunteered for what any rational person would say was a suicide mission into the heart of Harry Potter-land. The 17 did not include either of the Hogwarts students, or the Parkinson parents, the latter of which were going to have to be either dealt with permanently or neutralized temporarily, or the gig was up. Bill and Harry shared a look, and the former turned to Charlie.

"Okay Yaxley, we need to get those 17 over to your place as soon as humanly possible." Ron was leading a team of six Order members stationed at the house, having switched places with Bill's unit right before the meeting started.

"I don't know who any of these people are, Lucius." Charlie hadn't been around much in the last decade plus.

"We'll get them herded together somehow."

"Are we actually going to listen to the discussions?" Charlie couldn't think of much worse wastes of time.

"Damn skippy we are Yax my boy, we need to know what this lot are thinking. Draco, go get your father-in-law and get him to help identify those people. Have them meet in the study, and they can floo over to Bristol."

"If you say so." Harry dutifully left, but he was not wild about being in close proximity to Pansy's father.

He found Castor with his group, and beckoned him over. They went into the study, and Castor didn't even wait for the door to close.

"Draco, it's about time. What the hell is going on?"

"You mean about my mother being a traitor and working with Potter?"

"How do you know that for sure?"

"She threw it in his face. Look, Father will sit down with you tomorrow night and explain the entire thing, front to back. Bring Decilia if you like, and the five of us will hash this out, I promise." Harry was making this up as he went along.

"Where is Anson?"

"He's on a very important assignment right now, I managed to smuggle him into Hogwarts." Harry was now mentally flaying Bill alive for putting him in this position, and making him conjure up these stories.

"To do what?"

"We'll explain it all tomorrow. Now I need you to get these seven people and bring them in here." He handed over the slips of paper.

"These people said yes?"

"They did, and I don't blame you for not doing so, trust me." There was that phrase again.

Parkinson wanted to say a lot more, but he nodded and went to get the people. Harry/Draco did the same, he had known the other ten people on sight. All were purebloods, with two of them being on the Wizengamot. It didn't take much urging to get them to congregate together, everyone assumed, correctly of course, what was going on. Once together, Harry/Draco addressed them.

"Thank you all for volunteering. We will adjourn to Yaxley's home to discuss the particulars, anyone is free to back out at any time. If all of you are willing, then we will certainly make use of your talents in our raid. If fortune smiles on us, then Potter and his intimates will be dead by the end of the coming week."

That elicited some gasps as well, it wasn't only Bill that could get them from this kind of audience. He motioned for them to take the floo over, and went to get Charlie/Yaxley. Bill would stay at Malfoy Manor with Hermione, Luna, and a few others. They would keep things strictly business, but it was still taking a monumental chance. The plan was to have all but the group leaders go home before they could talk directly to the man they thought was Lucius, thus negating much of the risk.

Once at Yaxley's house, which curiously for purebloods didn't have a nickname, Harry again took the floor.

"Again, thank you all for coming. Yaxley is going to talk to you each in turn about what is expected of you. Mosian, if you will go first."

Mosian Reardon was one of the Wizengamot members, though not an influential one. Harry remembered him well from his sham trial of a few years back. The man hadn't said anything, but he had glowered at Harry the entire time. Needless to say he had been one of the votes to send Harry to Azkaban, and Harry was not unhappy that this man had volunteered to try and kill him.

Reardon disappeared into the other room, a soundproofed one that ensured that the other 16 couldn't hear Charlie stun him. Charlie waited five minutes, for authenticity's sake, before bringing in the next contestant. Every five minutes one of the True Voice would be killers walked into the study, and either Charlie or Ron took care of them.

So it took awhile, a solid hour in fact, before there were two left to be Stunned, and Harry took care of that. Neither of them knew what hit them, nor managed to get their wands out. Harry took the wands and yelled out:

"Hey!" Before remembering that the room was soundproofed. He went over and pounded on the door, and Charlie and Ron came out, along with Oliver, Katie, and Ginny. They had the 17 wands in one pile, and the six of them took some pleasure in snapping all of them. Harry was snapping the next to last one, when Bill and his group started coming in via the floo. Bill immediately pulled Harry aside.

"Is it done?"

"Just now, had to make it look good." The last thing Harry wanted was a battle in such an unfamiliar place. He had Reardon's wand in his hand right now.

"Glad to hear it. That was some interesting chatting I don't mind telling you. Those people are not the idiots we wish they were."

"Are they pro or con about the Ministry negotiations?"

"Somewhat con, though it's not a landslide in that direction. They're suspicious of Robards and why he sat out the war, just like we've been."

"I promised Castor that you would meet with him tomorrow night."

"I know, he mentioned it to me as they left. I have no problem with it, those two need to be dealt with one way or the other anyway."

"Kill them?"

"I don't know, let's wait until we talk with them. We'll decide on Anson afterward too. Now let's get going on the questioning, we have to make this quick."

Each Order person took one True Voice, a sheet of written ahead of time questions, some Veritaserum, and a Dictating Quill. The sessions lasted the full 20 minutes, and got the particulars on that person's life, Death Eater activities, and anything else out of bounds that they might be contemplating in the future.

All of them professed extreme hatred for the Order, and the desire to kill as many of them as they could, in no small part for retribution for the end of the last war and The Battle of Hogwarts, where five of the group lost close family members. Bill and Harry stayed in character, and took some small pleasure in the reactions from the their prisoners over who was questioning them.

Harry took Reardon out of the group, and led him outside the house, while Bill herded the prisoners into one room, the central most room in the house. They were tied up and gagged, and certainly not going anywhere. Bill waited a few minutes for the Polyjuice to wear off, thus exposing his true face and voice.

"I wish I could say that I'm sorry about all of this, but I'm not. You all volunteered for a slaughter mission, very eagerly. But it turns out that you're the ones being slaughtered, not us. We're smarter, more dedicated, and we'll win in the end. That's what we did last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. You should have legitimately tried to get your agenda at the ballot box, you really should have. But you've given me no choice here, none at all. It's either kill you now, or risk being killed by you, and that's a very easy decision for me to make. Go into the afterlife knowing that you're joining Narcissa and Pansy Malfoy, and that Lucius and Draco Malfoy, and Efrimias Yaxley are our prisoners and will be with you soon. If this was a James Bond film, you would escape now because I've wasted time talking too much. But this isn't fiction, it's real. My name is Bill Weasley, and on behalf of The Order of the Phoenix, I hereby sentence you to death. May God have mercy on your souls."

Bill, Ron, George, and Charlie joined the others in sending a series of Stunners into the prisoners, rendering all of them blessedly unconscious for what was about to follow. The mass Stunning allowed them to remove the magical ropes, and the prisoners were moved to various chairs and sofas.

Ron was the one to start the initial fire, in the kitchen, and he was soon joined by Charlie and Bill. They set fire to every room in the house, save the one occupied by the prisoners. When the fires were starting to pick up force, Bill had everyone leave via the front door. The nearest magical residence was many kilometers away, on the other side of Bristol, but what they were about to do would be seen by many.

Harry pointed his wand at Reardon, and with as much force as he could:

"Imperious!"

Reardon's eyes glazed over a bit, and Harry gave him his instructions:

"You will take your wand and put the Dark Mark in the air above this house. Now."

Said wand was given to Reardon, and with the wands of every Order member pointed at him, he did as he was told.

And the Dark Mark was seen in Great Britain for the first time in over 18 months. A Death Eater civil war was a brewing.

End Chapter


	41. Internal Blowback

Sunday, December 7, 1999, continued

Yaxley's house, Bristol, England

5:15 pm

The Dark Mark stood out very clearly in the air, and Bill knew that The Ministry could not be far away, if not on their way already.

"Let's go!"

People started Apparating away, to the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch in this case, just in case The Ministry was able to track their destination. Bill took Reardon with them, he was debating on whether or not to try and use the Wizengamot member as their inside person there. Harry was the last one there, and he looked at the flames towering from the house, though because of the Charms the nearby muggles were unaware of the blaze.

"You deserved what you got." He shook his head, and popped away…….

……Less than 15 seconds before the first Aurors arrived, who got there barely a minute after the Dark Mark went into the air.

Kingsley was not among them, yet, the crew of Aurors was led by Trenton Lee, who was one of the senior people in the department. He quickly got the mark out of the air and sent someone to get Kingsley. It was a simple matter of covering his rear end, something this big coming up.

The Head Auror appeared within a couple of minutes, and took immediate stock of the situation. There were now seven Aurors there, including him.

"Trenton, take your team, put some Flame Prevention Charms on yourselves, and go in there. See if it's just Yaxley, or if he had company over, or if there is even anyone in there at all. Be very careful though, we don't know what hidden traps he might have that weren't deactivated by whomever did this." He didn't believe for one second that this was an accident.

Kingsley had put someone inside the Malfoy meeting, one of his undercover people using Polyjuice. But the man had not reported in yet, and wouldn't until later on that night. But the obvious assumption to be made was that there had been a falling out among the True Voice people, and Kingsley made it. But first.

"Jasper, go to our watchers at WWW and Harry's place and see if there was any activity."

The floo made knowing who was in the house when very problematic, but a periodic scan could tell a watcher how many were in the house/business at a particular time. He didn't think that Harry and Bill would be so bold as to torch someone's house though.

Jasper Turnblood came back five minutes later:

"Nothing in the last few hours, but a bunch of them were at the joke shop this morning and left between 9:00 and 10:00 am. You want me to check Hogwarts?" The Auror was 24, and could pass for 14 if the lighting was not too bright.

"Yes, you'd better. Just don't get caught."

After The Battle of Hogwarts, the castle had needed some repairs due to the heavy amount of damage caused during the assault. While Robards had not taken over for the caretaker Minister at that point, Kingsley had taken it upon himself to make sure that the construction contract went to a reliable contractor.

A reliable contractor who built another secret passage into Hogwarts, and one that neither McGonagall nor the Marauder's Map knew about. It had only been used to test it out, and Kingsley had still not told Robards about it, something to squirrel away until he really needed to trade something. But now Turnblood was going to use it for real, to talk to their inside people: one of the students, and one of the faculty.

Kingsley knew that the Order people used WWW as one of their two hubs, but the timing of all of this struck him as rather negative. It was another five minutes before Lee came back out of the house with a report.

"This is a crime scene boss, I found 17 bodies in the library, though none can be recognized right now. Once the fire is out we can do some tests I suppose, but a quick scan indicates that it's a magical fire, not a muggle one."

Kingsley had been afraid of this, but he kept to the task at hand.

"Incendio then. Okay, we'll have to wait for our answers it seems. The Obliviators should be on the scene in a few minutes, but half of Bristol probably saw the Dark Mark. I'll have a story planted in the local paper about a boarding school prank, play on their Batman stories or something like that." Meaning the Bat Signal.

"You think that we have a True Voice feud going on here?"

Kingsley trusted Trenton Lee more than most of his colleagues, and certainly more than Diggory, so he was straight with the man.

"There are three scenarios that fit here: A True Voice revolt, with the Malfoys taking out their competition……..Harry and Bill getting tired of waiting……..or a third player that we know nothing about, Yaxley was not the most pleasant person to walk through the turnip patch, surely he has enemies that we don't know about." He was thinking of one in particular: Gawain Robards.

"You must have a favorite of the three."

"The Malfoy option is the one I would prefer obviously." It was also the one with the fewest amount of complications and loose ends.

"You still like those guys, don't you?" Lee's smile was just on the edge of sardonic.

"Harry and Bill? Of course I do Trenton, we fought together, lost friends together. I consider both of them to be friends of mine to this day. The last place I want to be is against them. But if they're starting to mass murder their enemies, then something has to be done. We'll continue to investigate though." The last place Kingsley really wanted to be was on the business end of Harry's wand, even if he wouldn't admit that to anyone but himself and his wife. He was not at all convinced that Harry could be killed magically, especially after the Voldemort business.

"Are you going to brief The Minister? He'll want to know all about this." Lee knew that because he was on of Robards' key informants inside Auror Command. He wasn't sure if Kingsley knew about that or not though.

"I will later on, once we know more. Send one of your men back to the home office and let him know that this has happened, we don't want him finding out on the WWN."

"Gotcha." He went back inside, and Kingsley started muttering to himself.

"Oh Harry my boy, please tell me that you didn't have anything to do with this."

It was not until three hours later that Kingsley flooed to the home of The Minister, to give his report. They sat in the kitchen over cups of tea as the Head Auror gave most of his report to the boss.

"My man inside the meeting says that they were planning a hit on Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and the Yaxley people who died were to perform that hit."

Kingsley was leaving out the part about Robards allying himself with the True Voice crowd. One reason was that he had a hard time believing it to be anything more than Lucius' way of suckering his rivals. The other was just on the off chance that Lucius had been telling the truth.

That Lucius had been portrayed by Bill Weasley never once occurred to him.

"So you think that Lucius did the mass killing then, and not Weasley and your friend Potter?"

Kingsley was not particularly wild about how Robards always referred to Harry as 'your friend Potter', he knew that it was a dig on many levels. But there was nothing he could do about it right now.

"The circumstantial evidence does point that way, yes. We won't know until someone comes forward to confess. We do know that the meeting was fully attended except for Anson Parkinson and Narcissa Malfoy, and even if they were involved in the murders, Lucius would have needed more than those two and Draco to do it." He had told Robards all of the meeting information that didn't involve him.

"More outside help then? Like the Hogwarts Express people?"

"Quite possibly. But what they did Gawain, was eliminate the hardcore element of their organization. That says something right there."

"Tell me something Kingsley: Let's say that you picked your best 12 Aurors, and the lot of you mounted a raid on Potter's house. What chance would you give yourself of success?"

Kingsley had thought about this quite a bit over the last few months, so his answer was given pretty quickly.

"About 25 percent at best, and that's only if he would have no idea that we were coming. If he had even five minutes to prepare? It would be a bloodbath."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I've been in that house Gawain, many times. It's incredibly defensible, with any attacker having to go through multiple hazards just to get at the center of the place."

"One can assume that he's put up some wards that you know nothing about."

"That's why I'm giving the odds that I'm giving. There's no way anyone from The Ministry, aside from his current circle, would ever be given admittance."

"I wasn't going to ask you to go in there, don't worry. No, what I'm saying is: Why would anyone think that assaulting that house would be a good idea? You can even leave aside that it would be just what Potter wants, to give him all the excuse he needs to get his revenge for Dumbledore, the other twin, the Lupins and Tonks'."

"Narcissa Malfoy was in and out of there for years as a young woman, it's possible that she would know of a backdoor method inside."

"Then why didn't they use it years ago?"

"I have no idea, perhaps she was just never asked. Look, I don't know what got into their heads, all I know is that almost a fifth of their group is dead right now, and it looks to be the most violent fifth. It must mean that Lucius is going to go strictly political from now on."

"Pay him a visit tomorrow, either at his business or his home. Don't bring him in yet, but let him know that we're very interested in what happened to the unfortunate Mr. Yaxley, assuming that it's even him in there. We don't have probable cause right now to bring him in, not without admitting to him that you had his big meeting infiltrated."

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea, telling him. He might be ruthless enough in his search for the traitor that more people get eliminated. He's down to 80 people or thereabouts, which can still cause us trouble."

"Good point, wait to see him until Tuesday, let's see what the fallout is tomorrow in the papers and on the streets in the Alleys. If it's running against him, then we do like you said. If not, we evaluate our options. Be in my office at 9:00 am Tuesday and we'll hash it out."

"Got it."

"You saw the editorial in the paper this morning?"

More people that just Amos Diggory had pointed it out to Kingsley this day, the number was running in the mid doubt digits right now, including Mrs. Shacklebolt.

"After Amos pointed it out to me, yes."

"And your thoughts are?"

"That we need to have a sit down with either Harry or Quirke, and pronto."

"You would recommend doing so with your friend, obviously.

Kingsley's calm visage belied his gritted teeth at yet another dig.

"If you believe that Harry can be contained via political means, then by all means, cut a deal with Quirke. The only thing is, what can we offer him? He already has all the access he needs, and after the business with Fudge, the last thing he wants is to become the Ministry's mouthpiece."

"As opposed to the mouthpiece for Potter and Weasley?"

"With them he'll have a say in things, probably a large say, third only to the two of them. He knows he won't get that here." Kingsley figured that of all the older members of the Order, and Quirke would be the second oldest after Slughorn, Quirke was probably the one that Harry and Bill would take most seriously.

Robards turned that over in his mind for a minute, and then started nodding.

"Fair enough, arrange a dinner on Saturday. The guest list is to be you and I, and Potter and Bill Weasley. No one else, unless they insist on bringing their girlfriend and wife along, respectively."

"I'll talk to Bill tomorrow. Dinner here?" The Robards bachelor lair was nothing more than a standard two bedroom muggle house, with the spare room being lived in by his security detail.

"See if they volunteer the Weasley home first, but otherwise we'll do it somewhere in muggle London, on neutral ground. Perhaps you're right, it is time that Harry Potter and I hash things out face to face."

Kingsley left soon thereafter, his boss not having brought up Amos Diggory and what the man was so edgy about.

There was no Order meeting this day, as Bill and company had the Malfoy meeting, and McG and Flitwick had the end of term coming up and the hundreds of details that went along with it. So they did not find out about the burning until the next morning, when it was the lead story in The Daily Prophet.

Monday, December 8, 1999

Bill Weasley's office, Gringott's Bank

11:00 am

McG took the floo through to Bill's office as soon as she could shake loose from her meetings. She found Bill working on his end of the year report, though he was looking at the floo as she rolled in, as if hoping for a diversion.

"Hello Minerva, what brings you by?" He knew though.

"Is it true? What they printed in The Daily Prophet this morning?"

This, however, was not the diversion that Bill had been looking for.

There were two articles about the fire, and both of them showed how solidly the Quirke family had gone to Harry's and Bill's side in the conflict. One of the stories even implied that Attila Quirke's editorial of the previous day might have galvanized The Ministry into finally acting against The True Voice, with the killings being the end result. That was the article ghostwritten by Luna. All in all Bill was very pleased.

"Of course it's true, Harry and I sat down with Luna and Quirke and helped them shape the story." He thought about mentioning to McG that it had been her idea in the first place to approach Quirke, but decided to save that little nugget for later on if things got heated.

"I thought you said that there would be no mass killings at that meeting?"

"There weren't, we burned down the Yaxley place, not Malfoy Manor. And only 17 got killed, and they deserved it." He spent the next couple of minutes recapping the day for her.

"You should have consulted with the rest of us before you did anything like that. We are in a lot more danger now than we were 24 hours ago."

"A majority of the Order took part in the operation, and all of them were there willingly. As far as I am concerned, that constitutes a quorum. And all we did was take out the most dangerous section of our enemy, and perhaps force Robards into acting a little more boldly."

"Starting with arrests!"

"Oh please, he doesn't have the public support yet to do that. We're still war heroes Minerva, that buys us more rope than your average taxpayer gets in the same situation."

"You're playing a dangerous game here Bill, with all of our lives in the balance." She couldn't believe how reckless he was being.

"I had the support of the majority of our group, and I do not ever remember giving you veto power!"

Bill had never yelled at her before, and it rocked McG back on her heels a little bit. He continued in a more conciliatory tone of voice:

"They all volunteered to raid 12 and try and kill everyone inside. The 70 plus who didn't volunteer? They're safe and sound, though no doubt a bit worried after reading today's paper. Which is what we want."

"Only an idiot would think that Headquarters can be taken by a dozen people, they were no threat."

"Well it's too late now, they're cinders at the moment. I do not anticipate further killings unless their names are Malfoy or Parkinson, but you never know. And besides, an idiot with a wand can be very, very dangerous. Fudge and Umbridge proved that quite nicely. Or nastily, if you want the real view. We did what we had to do, for peace of mind if nothing else. I have no regrets and I will not apologize."

McG couldn't think of anything else to say in the face of Bill's absolute certainty, so she prepared to leave. Not for the first time she remembered that she was not dealing with Dumbledore, but with two men who believed that her mentor had screwed up the last war, and were determined not to repeat his supposed mistakes.

"When are you planning to kill Lucius and Draco?"

"Not in the next day or two, they might be useful still. Anson I am still thinking about." That reminded him, he needed to cancel the meeting with Castor Parkinson.

"What is your inclination, with him?"

Bill leaned back in his chair.

"I honestly don't know, I've been kicking it around for the last two days, and have reached decisions and changed my mind half a dozen times. That uncertainty means he lives, for now. He's not a bad guy, and can potentially be very useful."

McG said little more, and then flooed back to her office, whereupon she went right to the offices of Flitwick and Bender, leaving them notes instructing them to meet her for lunch in her office, just the three of them.

Bill anticipated something like this happening, but there was little he could do right now to stop it. He was the last person that could approach his parents, even if Arthur wasn't under heavy watch in his office, and Harry was the second worst person to try and talk to them. Bill, in the end, decided that if the older people revolted, then it was just too bad. They had the parchment binding their silence, and he knew that he and Harry had the votes to keep doing as they pleased.

Right after lunch, Kingsley visited Bill as planned, and left 10 minute later, having extracted Bill's agreement to have dinner with The Minister on Saturday. Bill told his old friend that he was sure that Harry would go along with it, and that he would let him know whether or not Hermione and/or Fleur would be joining. He said that even though he knew that Fleur would want in no matter what. Kingsley had looked surprised at the easy agreement, and there seemed to be more that he wanted to say here, but he left without revealing it.

Harry knew about none of this, as he and Teddy were in Hogsmeade at The Three Broomsticks having lunch, after which they were going to have a snowball fight. It was boys day out for the Potter/Lupin clan, and Harry was determined to have some fun for a change. Besides, he had just been very responsible for the murders of 20 people in the last 48 hours, and he needed some release.

Wednesday, December 10, 1999

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

5:05 pm

Harry was doing some more game playing with Teddy, when the floo fired, and Giles Keenan came tumbling out.

"Hey Giles, what's up?" He looked at his watch, and saw that Keenan's last class would have just ended five minutes earlier. This was likely not to be good tidings he was bringing.

"Harry, I have some news."

"I'm listening."

"I'm guessing that Bill told you about Minerva's visit on Monday?"

"He mentioned it, yeah."

"She has been going around the older members of The Order, trying to gain support." Anyone older than Bill's 31 years of age was considered to be one of the 'older members'.

Harry sighed, he and Bill had discussed this very thing, and dismissed it as inconsequential. But it was still a hassle.

"Is she succeeding?"

"Well Flitwick is with her of course, and I'm told that Arthur and Molly have been receptive."

"And Soren?"

"She's the one who told me about it in the first place, Minerva hasn't talked to me about it. I assume that she thinks you and I are too close for me to go against you." He was quite relieved, as Gringott's wanted him at Hogwarts for at least the rest of the year, as their eyes and ears. He didn't want McG giving him a 'vote with me or else' kind of problem. But his friendship with Harry was genuine, though his goblin supervisor had commented approvingly on it.

"Are we? What do you think about all of this?"

"I would have been against killing every single one of them, but weeding out the true nasty people was pretty slick I thought. I'm with you there, hence me telling you about all of this."

"I appreciate that. Soren on the fence then?"

"She's more with you than against you, let's put it that way. Slughorn and I danced around the topic and I gather that he's the same way. They're going to make their move at the meeting on Saturday."

Bill had pushed forward the usual Sunday meeting to Saturday this week, because of the dinner with Robards that night.

"She can't possibly think that she has the votes to do anything, can she?" He highly doubted that Slughorn would go against him if push came to shove, but if McG really want to force the issue he might. In truth Quirke was the one he was most worried about.

"She's under the impression that you need the five of them because of their positions within Hogwarts and The Ministry, and thus their votes count for a bit more than say, Ron's or Katie's. Add in myself and Slughorn and it becomes even more the case. If that access and influence are denied the Order, then it won't be as efficient. It would be more so if any of the younger group joins them."

"What's their ultimate goal?"

"A promise of no more unilateral action without the entire group knowing. As she pointed out to Soren, Dumbledore acted unilaterally all the time and you two are constantly ripping his memory for it. Hence, you shouldn't be doing it yourselves. She's viewing you as the old man, and Bill as that Moody character you're always telling me stories about." Keenan had never met Moody, having been in the muggle world during the last two wars.

"I really don't need this crap right now."

"I can imagine, but I wanted you to know."

"I appreciate it Giles, thank you. You staying for dinner?"

"No thanks, I'd better get back. If I'm not at dinner there some questions might get asked. Now, are you sure that Hermione is with you?" He knew that Hermione loved being a Hogwarts Professor, and did not know that that situation only had six and a half months left to go.

"She might agree with McGonagall on some of it, but she would never stand with her against me." To Harry's knowledge, Hermione had not told McG about her resignation yet, though of course she had many months to do it and have it still be timely.

"So you two are back on track?"

Harry had gone to Keenan for relationship advice on more than one occasion.

"We are, thank goodness. It took a plot against her life for me to truly realize what I have with her. But I realized it in time." As had Hermione, or so he believed.

"I'm glad to hear it. Now I would rather you didn't keep me informed, so I can deny things convincingly to the Headmistress."

"Whatever you want, and Giles? I owe you one."

"You owe me two, the first is the ten galleons on the England/Spain friendly."

They laughed, and it cut whatever tension there was in the room as Harry fished some coins out of his pocket.

"How was I supposed to know that the goalie would get a red card?"

After a ruffle of Teddy's hair, Keenan left, and Harry looked at his godson. They had been spending so much time together this week that Harry didn't really want to leave him. His watch said that Bill would likely be at work for another 45 minutes, and no one would be back to 12 for at least an hour after that.

"Teddy, you want to go see Uncle Bill?"

"Yeah!" Teddy liked Bill's ponytail, he was fascinated by it for some reason.

"C'mon then, to the floo."

"Flooooooooo!" Teddy really dug that word, much to everyone's amusement.

Harry shrunk Teddy's crayons and coloring book and put them in his pocket, so the lad would have something to do while the adults plotted about coups.

A minute later, they were in Bill's office.

"We have a problem, maybe."

"That's a nice greeting. Robards or McGonagall?" He didn't think it could be anything else, and was proven correct.

"The latter, for now. She's going around, trying to drum up support to handcuff us."

"Yeah, the killing thing honked her off. Her idol wouldn't have done it that way I suppose." Bill didn't sound too worried.

"We need to nip this in the bud, now. The three of us have to meet with Robards and Kingsley right after we put down an insurrection among our own people? Do we need this?" Hermione had declined the offer for dinner, she had already promised her parents a makeup dinner.

"They don't have the votes to do any real damage, and everyone knows it. This is just an excuse for the lot of them to try and remonstrate with us, accuse us of acting more like the bad guys than the good guys, that you and I are blurring the lines between the two."

"Are we?"

Bill's answer kind of surprised him.

"To a point, yes. But we know how to get back across the line, that's our advantage. It was what terrified Dumbledore, that he would love power so much that he wouldn't be able to let go of it once he had it. I have to think it's why he never gave in and took the Minister of Magic position."

"But you and I……"

"Don't want that, no. The difference between you, and Dumbledore and even Voldemort, is that you have people to support you, and a different life experience. Voldemort didn't have that support structure, I doubt there was one person he could really talk to about what he was feeling, or what the future held. When you have no one to talk about things with, you tend to agree that what YOU want is going to be right. Dumbledore did have that support system, but he was…….Dumbledore was not a modern man Harry, and it reflected his outlook on life. You could transport him back to the year 1500 and the only difference in his life would be that there was no Hogwarts Express to take the students up to school. In a way that's not so bad, a traditionalist way of thinking. But it's also the pureblood creed to an extent if you think about it."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at Bill." But he found the comparisons to be fascinating all the same.

"You have perspective, and people to mark your card. That's why you won't take over the world, or try to, like Voldemort did. But unlike Dumbledore, you won't allow evil to go unchecked until it's almost too late. He was so sure that the prophecy would deliver, that he didn't act, and people died. I'm not talking about Fred, Remus, Tonks, there was going to be a final battle regardless. But what about Ted Tonks? Amelia Bones? Lots of people suffered and died for no good reason. That's what you and I are going to stop, that is what will make this time different."

Harry smiled for the first time.

"Was that for me? Or were you testing your argument for the meeting on Saturday?"

"Yes."

They both laughed.

"Do we need to start gathering up votes?"

"No, I think we need to let her be the politician for once. It would give her argument too much credence if we marshaled support against it ahead of time. I mean by all means talk to Hermione about it, and I'll talk to Fleur. But let's see if she makes an approach to anyone else, of the 'younger set'."

"Do we need them, like Giles says she thinks?"

"McGonagall helps, let's put it that way. I don't know if Dad does or not anymore, since he's been watched so closely. Did you talk to Quirke's granddaughter yet?"

"No, I haven't gotten around to it yet, why?"

"Better do it tonight, in case McGonagall isn't a good loser on Saturday. We need access to the castle and information inside it, just in case. She's Head Girl, which is only one step below a teacher. Or you and Filch."

"Ha ha, you're so bloody hilarious."

"I have my moments. You'll do it?"

"Sure, it'll be interesting to see if Attila has already found a way around the parchments to tell her."

Harry and Teddy left soon thereafter, and after a quick dinner out, they went to Hogwarts. Harry explained to Hermione what was going on, and called out for his Hogwarts elf helper.

"Krepko!"

POP!

"Yes Professor Potter?"

"Please go get Orla Quirke from Ravenclaw and have her meet us here, as soon as possible."

"Of course sir. If she asks, what do I tell her is the purpose of the meeting?"

"Daily Prophet business, but only say that if she insists."

"Yes sir."

Orla did not insist, and ten minutes later she was in Hermione's office being filled in by Harry, while Hermione took a break from grading papers to play with Teddy.

"So what do you say Orla? Interested?"

"Do you think that I have value, real value? Or are you doing this to placate my grandfather?"

Harry took a page from Bill's book.

"Yes." He smiled, and was relieved when it was returned.

"Alright then, I'm in. But how sure are you that McGonagall is going to be an antagonist?"

"Not at all sure, but we need a backup plan, and you're part of it. Just be very careful about what you say to whom, even about things that have nothing to do with this. I'm sure she has you under a little bit more scrutiny now anyway, because of your grandfather."

"I have noticed the Grey Lady hanging around our Common Room more than usual lately, now that you mention it."

"There you go, she's just getting ready." Harry had thoroughly swept the room before Orla got there, and there were still no paintings.

"You don't think she would side with Robards do you?"

"No, but she would rather lose with dignity that win without it." Just a theory.

"What do you want me to do in the meantime?"

"Just keep an eye on things for us, and your ear to the ground. We would only need you to fight if things go really, really south on us, so you're side of the battle is more intelligence based than Defense based."

"I can fight well you know." She had been in the thick of it at the Hogwarts battle last year.

"Then your cover would be blown here, and we can't allow that. It's not a question of lacking faith in you in that area. Now, if you'll sign these parchments that I told you about. The no attacking one is pretty useless for you, since you would never assault a teacher, but the forms must be obeyed and all that." Hermione had retrieved the parchments while Harry was giving Orla the spiel.

She signed where he indicated, and the Order had yet another new member, though like Natalie MacDonald, she would not be attending any meetings, in theory. Like the previous few times that the Order had been expanded, Harry vowed that this would be it.

Saturday, December 13, 1999

Number 12, Grimmauld Place

2:00 pm

Bill led off the meeting, a meeting without food for once. Everyone was there, including late additions Natalie MacDonald and Orla Quirke.

"The sole topic on today's agenda is our meeting tonight with Gawain Robards and Kingsley Shacklebolt. It will be the two of them, and Fleur, Harry, and myself, something tells me that Kingsley's wife won't be there. What we need to talk about are the parameters of the discussion, and what kind of deal can be made, assuming that Robards is willing to offer one. The thing is of course, we don't know what he wants, or even why he's doing this. With any luck we'll find out at this meeting."

Neville had a question before the debate began:

"What's to stop him from arresting you once you three are out in the open?"

"Well we're not meeting on magical ground, we're meeting in muggle London. They have no authority there, and would have a much tougher time grabbing us. Plus, I don't think it's come to that yet, even if they think that we're the ones who did the Yaxley killings."

On Wednesday The Ministry had announced, through The Daily Prophet, the names of those believed to have been killed in the Yaxley fire. Bill had been tempted to send Kingsley an anonymous owl telling him that they had been 17 for 17 in the names, but in the end felt that it would have been pushing it a little.

McGonagall took that last mention as the opening that it was, and cleared her throat.

"Yes Minerva?" He was pleased that it was coming so early.

"I think we need to talk about the Yaxley kilings, if you don't mind."

"You have a time turner at your disposal? I thought they had all been destroyed?" Or 'lost', as the time turner that Dumbledore had lent Hermione was.

"No I do not have one, unfortunately, but I want to talk about the killing of 17 people." She knew that he was baiting her, but felt equal to the challenge.

"By all means, that's what these meetings are for. But first, I would like to make sure that you are not objecting to the three deaths that preceded them, the ones involving the plot on Hermione's life."

Hermione, your favorite, he didn't say. But the implication was there, and it got a few slight smiles from the audience. It was also a trap by Bill, who was a long time player of both Wizard's and muggle chess, and who didn't want to make too long a game of this.

The trap was simple: If Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Malfoy deserved to die for plotting to kill Hermione, didn't the 17 deserve to die for eagerly volunteering to kill the residents of this very house?

Ron, while not the shiniest penny in the pile, nonetheless was an expert chess player and saw the trap right away. He had to turn away so that McG and his parents couldn't see him grinning.

But for McG there was a difference.

"Ms. Davis and Ms. Greengrass were stalking Hermione with the intent to kill her, under the orders of Pansy Malfoy. That is quite different than the group on Sunday."

"So you'd rather that we waited until they were at the door here?" At least she was admitting that the three on Saturday were kosher, he had been wondering about that.

"Yes."

"It still would have been considered entrapment by many. We weren't trying to build a court case against them, we were eliminating a group of potential threats. Now, we still have a few left, but the real fighters were in that house. Plus, there was the chance, however slight, that those idiots might have gotten lucky and killed someone, and we can't be having that now can we?"

Harry took over:

"Minerva, we're fighting a war on two fronts here. The first with Lucius' people, and the second with Robards. Robards may or may not know that we're on to him, but we still have to act as if he does. So anything we can do to give one of our enemies some pause is worth it."

"It would have been better if everyone had been consulted."

Back to Bill:

"We consulted more than a few people, as you well know from our conversation on Monday. I can't think of any argument that you could have marshaled that would have changed the course of events."

"Of course you can't, you never let us have the opportunity."

"Who exactly is this 'us' that you're talking about? Clearly you're speaking for more people than just yourself, it would be nice to know how wide your support is." This was Bill testing of Giles Keenan, a man whose friendship with Harry was a mite suspicious as far as Bill was concerned.

"Are you asking for a head count then? Is that what we are being reduced to?" McG had been afraid of this.

"You're making claims on behalf of people, I would like to know who those people are. Harry and I are being criticized for our decision making after all, I don't think it's out of line for us to be able to see our accusers. No grudges will be held, we can take being disagreed with, right Harry?"

"Of course. Everyone that agrees with Minerva, please stand up."

McGonagall, to her credit, stood up proudly. She was joined by Flitwick, Attila Quirke, Molly, Arthur, Slughorn, and a hesitant Soren Bender, who cleared her throat:

"I agree with what you did as far as the killings go, but the entire group should have been told about it in advance."

Slughorn did not look happy about standing, which led the younger people to believe, correctly as it would turn out, that his position at Hogwarts had been threatened. He remained silent though.

"That takes care of her circle. Does anyone else agree with her?" He wasn't happy about Attila standing though.

No one else stood up, and Bill had to try hard not to rub her nose in it.

"I don't need to have studied muggle calculus to know that you are many votes shy of a majority Minerva."

Okay, he didn't try that hard.

"That may be, but in terms of position in our world, our worth is significantly higher than any seven of you."

"Very true, given that except for Giles, we're all rather on the young side. And I might note that four of the people who stood by you are dependant upon you for their livelihoods."

McGonagall colored a bit, and Slughorn looked even more embarrassed, though she did not deny Bill's shot. He continued.

"Okay, clearly the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube as far as the Yaxley killings go. I assume that you have a list of requests to put forward?"

"The next time you intend to kill someone, some notice would be appreciated." Stating the obvious right off the bat.

"That's fair, as long as you are capable of distinguishing between planned killings, and ones done in the heat of the moment." Having agreed to her demand, Bill wanted to put her in her place a bit.

"Meaning?"

"Yaxley's house was planned, I think we can all agree that Pansy Malfoy was in the heat of the moment."

Nods all around, even Bender and Attila Quirke were in agreement.

"Excellent, we agree. Next?"

McG was a bit taken aback that Bill had more or less agreed to her principle demand.

"We are concerned that you and Harry seem to be charting so much of our course. There does not appear to be an overall plan, merely reactions to what the Malfoys did and what you think that Robards is going to do or capable of doing."

Bill and Harry both burst out laughing, in a remarkable show of coordination. Bill managed to stop first, as it looked like Harry's ribs were starting to hurt.

"And Dumbledore had a plan? Oh my God. His plan, if you want to call it that, was to sacrifice Harry and hope for the best! We've won at nearly every turn this time, not losing a life in the process, and you have the utter gall to say that our strategy isn't working? You're not using any muggle narcotics right now are you? The only quibble you can throw at us is Pansy killing Narcissa, and I'll be the first to agree that we should have kept a closer watch on her and her brother." He looked over to Harry and saw that he was still chuckling.

Indeed McG's latest argument was not going over well among the Weasley siblings and the other recent Hogwarts grads. Harry managed to catch his breath.

"Anyone here is, and always was, invited to have their say. But Bill and I are the leaders, and sometimes we need to make quick decisions without the opportunity to consult everyone. That's what leaders do. Now the killing thing, we'll grant you that we could have let everyone know ahead of time, but chose not to. Now those of you standing, is any of this a deal breaker for you? We're not going to hold anyone in The Order against his or her will."

Harry still stunk at chess, but he was liking poker more and more, and this was his putting a large stack of chips into the center of the table, daring McG to call.

Bill didn't let her though, as he walked up to her.

"I get what you're feeling Minerva, you're an idiot if you think that I don't see what's really going on here. You see us as the younger set, the ones without all of your life experiences, with some muggle influences thrown in. The people who do things differently than they've been done in the past, who perhaps ignore some of the old ways. Well the past ways didn't work very well in our opinion, and we're trying something different this time in order to reduce the loss of life. When things start to fail or fall apart on us, then I'll be happy to take your concerns more seriously. But right now it looks like you just want to take Harry and I down a couple of pegs because we're not deferring to you enough. Or at all. Well that's because you are a very good Transfiguration teacher and a pretty good school Headmistress. That's it. You do not have the power, cachet, or influence of Albus Dumbledore just because you happen to hold one of his positions."

He said no more, and his look all but dared her to walk out the door.

Which she did, wordlessly, followed by Flitwick and an apologetic looking Slughorn. Attila Quirke, Bender, and the Weasley parents all stayed.

Bill turned to Quirke:

"May one assume that you have a Potions Master on the payroll, or one you can lay your hands on relatively quickly?"

"Yes, I'll contact her immediately." He wasn't about to leave this room like the others had.

"Thank you. Those three are of course welcome to return when she grows up, or even if she doesn't. Now let's talk about Gawain Robards and what's going to happen tonight."

Silvio Berlusconni's Italia Ristorante, London

7:30 pm

Silvio's, as the restaurant was referred to, was the finest Italian restaurant in southern England, its patrons were the richest and most influential people available.

Precisely why Bill had picked it, any kind of dustup here would cause way too much of a fuss for Robards and his people. Bill, Fleur, and Harry arrived first, and had just given the server their drink orders when Kingsley and his boss showed up, sans Mrs. Shacklebolt as expected. No one was wearing robes, merely four nice suits and one tasteful dress, all the better to blend in. Robards was full of smiles:

"Harry lovely to see you again. Bill, Fleur, it's nice to meet you both." He shook hands all around, before settling into his chair.

"Well, let's get started shall we?"

End Chapter


	42. Fencing

Author's Note: A semi-major screw-up, in that I have the Order people Apparate from Yaxley's bonfire to the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, where you can't Apparate to. Sorry bout that. Also, Gawain Robards is going to be more to the front in the rest of the story, and instead of stressing about his casting, I'm just going to go with Liam Neeson. The guy can play anything, and I believe he is a good fit for the Robards that I've created here. And unlike my casting for Rufus Scrimgeour in my last story, this casting would actually have a chance at happening in real life. How has Neeson not been in a Potter movie yet? The world wonders.

Saturday, December 13, 1999, continued

Silvio Berlusconni's Italia Ristorante, London

7:35 pm

"Well, let's get started shall we? Where is the wine list? Harry, perhaps you could recommend something for us?"

Harry had known full well that his Ministry shadows knew about the wine tasting class, which he still went to. But it was still a slight shot across the bow, the first of quite a few of them over the course of the meeting/dinner/feeling out. The five of them were seated, from left to right, as Robards, Kingsley, Harry, Fleur, and Bill around the circular table.

"I already took the liberty sir." He named the wine that he had ordered, and it met with Robards' evident approval, The Minister's one vice was that he ate out almost every night.

"Please Harry, at the table it should be Gawain. How did you come to that class by the way?" He was very carefully avoiding looking directly at Fleur, which was difficult in that she was seated almost directly across from him, at the five person table. But the last thing that he wanted was to be in thrall, if even for a moment, to her Veela abilities.

Harry gave the five minute spiel on his class, why he had chosen it, and what it did for him.

"An interesting way to relax Harry, I'll have to try it sometime."

"You're welcome to come with me Wednesday night Gawain. It's a pretty reasonable fee, and newcomers are always welcome." Harry thought that this was a good shot to take, and he was rewarded with Kingsley hiding a smile, and Fleur kicking him under the table.

"You're on, owl me with the particulars."

And the shot was returned, and taken once around the dance floor. Bill was slightly worried about the game Harry was trying to play though. But there was nothing to do but wait for the end and the inevitable critique.

The wine was brought, and it met with Harry's satisfaction, he watched it carefully as it was uncorked. The sommelier was sufficiently surprised that this kid was doing the selecting, but his smile broadened when Harry told him who his instructor was.

"Mr. Kanin, an excellent tutor. Enjoy your dinner." He knew that Kanin, by habit, always recommended the higher end bottles.

No more fencing happened until dinner was ordered, just pleasant chit chat. But while they were waiting for their calamari and gnocchi appetizers, Robards dropped a big one.

"So, Harry and Bill…….did you burn Yaxley's house down?" Said as if asking them what their favorite Quidditch teams were.

Bill took a sip of wine, a very good one he thought, and then answered:

"I'm sure we would have thought of it, if we knew where he lived."

"It was outside of Bristol."

"So said The Daily Prophet, but we didn't know that until we read it in the paper."

At least the waiter had not been gotten to, as Bill had taken a few sips of water in the time between sitting down and the question being asked. So no Veritaserum. All three Order folk were mentally breathing sighs of relief. But they all knew the danger here. Lying to The Minister in a social situation was not technically a crime, but it was a gray area, and they were tromping in it right now.

"Are you unhappy that it happened?"

"We're quite curious to know why it happened. Did you burn the house down, Gawain?" Bill didn't want to feel left out of the zinger battle going on.

"No we didn't, though like you, we benefit from it happening. So Lucius did it?" Robards was still smiling.

"He seems the obvious choice."

"Too obvious perhaps, as it happened right after a full True Voice conference."

This did mildly surprise Bill, as he would have thought that the True Voice security team, of which no Malfoy was a member, would have made sure that only their own were there. Perhaps the Order people hadn't been the only ones there under Polyjuice disguise. He listened as Harry threw out a feint:

"We knew about the meeting of course, it was almost common knowledge in Knockturn Alley."

"When were you there Harry?" Robards could see that Kingsley wanted to know as well.

"I'm not stupid enough to actually walk in there, but people tell me things Gawain. You wouldn't believe the number of people who are dying to tell me things that they think I don't know, or would be interested in."

Though it happened mostly in his fan mail. Harry didn't read all of it, the team had someone on staff who did and culled the ones she thought he would be interested in, but some of the letters would turn a person's hair white.

"Contact with a celebrity, I can see that. How many autograph requests do you get a week?"

"A hundred on the average, I sign them on Monday afternoons for the most part." True story, it was part of his bonus structure.

"You wear your fame a lot easier than you did when you were younger."

"I do everything a lot easier than I did when I was younger. Besides, back then I was still the oddball, the crank shouting from the rooftops. I'm not that any longer." A zinger right to the chest, and said just a hair bit pointedly.

"No, you're not. You were proven right about Voldemort. Which does make one wonder why you're not doing a full on media blitz about the Malfoys? Nip this in the bud right now."

"They're not as big a threat as he was. The two of them are nothing more than a spoiled brat and his just powerful enough to be dangerous sire. I beat them before, and I'll do it again." That he had already beaten them was something he wanted very badly to share right now, but that wouldn't be terribly smart.

"At what cost though?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've already lost Andromeda Tonks, though I gather that she wasn't a member of your group."

"She wanted nothing to do with our political situation, the one that killed her husband and her daughter." The one you ducked out on, was the implied statement, though it would be ignored.

"True enough, a lot of loss on all sides of the last war. And on this one now. You sure you didn't have anything to do with that fire?"

Like I would bloody tell you if I did, Harry thought exasperatedly. But he knew that this was just another instance of the man pushing his buttons just for the sake of pushing them.

"Fine, I'll say it: I'm happy with what happened. But I had nothing to do with it, unless you count prayer."

Robards and Kingsley both laughed at that one, though the Minister's laugh was noticeably more hearty. He was enjoying the fencing match very much.

The appetizers came, and things got back on a social type track, with some Quidditch talk being the bulk of it. Harry admitted that he was very pleased with the results of his career choice, though he would also admit that he couldn't say that he exactly 'loved' Quidditch any longer. Clive's practices tended to do that to a person, Katie Bell would have told Robards much the same thing, though Oliver would not have. It was not something he would have liked The Daily Prophet to find out, but he felt that he had to give Robards some juicy tidbits here, and this seemed like a safe topic.

"Any interest in the Defense job at Hogwarts?"

"They have a Defense teacher, an excellent one." One with now slightly questionable loyalties to Harry and Bill, but he wasn't going to bring that up here.

"True, but she can always be promoted. I'm told that Minerva has a standing offer to you."

"She has implied as much, yes." Which was also true, McG had never flat out said 'tell me when you want the job, it's yours', it had been more along the lines of a 'let's talk when you're ready'. What that meant now, after the breach, was a whole other kettle of fish.

"Perhaps a sweetener can be offered to you." He was still talking shop to Harry as if Bill and Fleur were not at the table.

"I'm always willing to listen to my Minister." Harry knew that he was on a slippery surface here, and slightly raged at Bill for not stepping in to help him.

"Put in seven years at Hogwarts as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, long enough to influence an entire class of students during their time there, and when that's over with, I'll make you Head Auror. No academy training, just some consulting for us in the summer and during breaks."

"Who's to say that you'll be Minister seven and a half years from now? You will have to run for re-election." It wasn't a bad deal though, Head Auror right as he turned 27 years old, which had to be the youngest in history, right?

"Then it would be in your best interests to campaign for my re-election then won't it? Kingsley would be DMLE Head, and we'll find a good spot for Soren if she chooses to stay in government this time. Think about it Harry."

"I will, I promise that I'll give it every consideration." If only you hadn't been running Lucius Malfoy and ordered the death of Andromeda.

As they ate their appetizers, and then moving on to their entrées, Fleur was the focus. Robards still would not look directly at her, but he asked for some Beauxbatons stories, like many people did, and she obliged him. Halfway through his spinach and artichoke ravioli, Robards threw another zinger from the quiver.

"So how many people do you have watching us right now Bill? We counted seven magical people as we walked in, not counting the two of us." Whether that counted Fleur, Bill, and Harry he didn't say.

"I'm sure we don't have as many people here as you do sir." In fact there were six Order people there under Disillusion, being driven crazy by the smells coming from the kitchen.

"I always travel with a security detail, as you're no doubt aware. Why do you need security, is my question?"

Bill took this one, and for once he could tell the truth. Just not the whole truth.

"It's a dangerous world out there Gawain, there are threats from all over. Besides, if the True Voice got wind of this meeting, it could be trouble. We are five, very juicy, targets."

"Very true, of course you're right. But the violent faction of their group was eliminated."

"By people violent enough to massacre 17 of their comrades. So I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet."

Bill had sent out a couple of messages during the week, as Lucius, the first saying to the remaining True Voice members that he had had nothing to do with the events at Yaxley's house, and that Draco had not either, having left right before the carnage. The second had been to Robards himself, admitting that he had ordered the massacre, but that he would tell Robards why at a meeting to be determined. He had told the bulk of the Order this only after McG walked out of the meeting earlier in the day, though he would have told her too if she had stuck around. He was now wondering how much of that Robards would be willing to admit, if any.

"I agree, if Lucius would kill them, he would certainly love to kill the five of us. It would leave your organization toothless and The Ministry headless. That's why I have a dozen Aurors inside and outside. Hopefully no one will bump into each other.

That would make 18 people under some form of Disillusionment, disguise, or Polyjuice. Be it muggle or magical, someone was bound to bump into someone else. What would happen then was anyone's question.

"Then we should be safe and sound Gawain, able to enjoy this wonderful meal." It was great food, Bill thought, even if the prices bordered on the extreme. The wine alone had been over 500 pounds, and it was unclear on who was to pay. Harry had chosen the restaurant and the expensive wine, while it was Robards who had rendered the invitations and had gently insisted.

"It is a nice place that you picked out. So tell me, how are you two getting along with Headmistress McGonagall? I would think that she chafes a bit under leadership as young as the two of you."

Harry's heart started racing, though he managed to keep his face in a puzzled expression. There was no possible way that 12 had been penetrated, unless Kreacher was in on it, the little elf was explicitly ordered to monitor everyone coming in via the floo, whether the arrivals knew it or not. That meant that either McG or Flitwick had found a way around the parchment, or Hogwarts itself was compromised.

Or Robards was just throwing yet another ball of mud against the wall, hoping something would stick. For his part, Bill chose to bit a little bit on the bait, to see how hard The Minister would pull the line.

"It can get somewhat awkward at times. She took Dumbledore's orders because she revered him so much, they had a very long history with one another. It's hard to revere someone you taught for seven years, so Harry and I don't get the same deference. I would think that she's the same way with you." Robards had been among the last groups of students to be taught Transfiguration by both Dumbledore and McGonagall back in the day.

Robards started chuckling.

"Indeed she is, though she is advanced enough in years that practically no Minister coming up would be immune. You like the job she's doing at Hogwarts?" He addressed it to both of them, feeling that Fleur wouldn't have known Dumbledore well enough to know to compare them.

The Hogwarts Board of Regents, a new name for the same group, had given blunt instructions to McGonagall regarding her mandate. It was very simple:

Keep the train on the tracks, period.

Harry, at the rare staff meetings that he went to, and from Hermione's reports, had inferred as much. He answered:

"She's doing fine, though I would never accuse her of being a dynamo. Besides, who else could have taken the job?"

"Flitwick springs to mind, but I suppose that he defers to her in the same way that she did to Dumbledore." Flitwick had been the Ravenclaw Robards' Head of House and favorite teacher.

"I think Flitwick just wants to be left alone to teach. Even Snape let him be, didn't he?" Which proved to Bill that Snape had really been on their side all along, for allowing McG and Flitwick to stick around during his reign of horrors.

They continued on in that manner until the tiramisu arrived, discussing Hogwarts as it was now, even Slughorn got a going over. Everyone declined an after dinner drink, and then Robards got down to what he really wanted. Or wanted them to think that he wanted.

"Harry, Bill, Fleur……I want more of these meetings in the future. I know that we've held each other at arm's length in the past few months, and that's mostly my fault. I was a little too interested in preserving the so-called dignity of my office, and going to The Boy Who Lived and bargaining with him as an equal seemed a bit much. But violence has threatened our society now, in a large way, and I believe that it's in both of our best interests to work more closely together. They can't all be as expensive as this meeting of course, but a dialogue would be useful for all of us."

"To what end Minister? The destruction of The True Voice? Or you making sure that we don't get too popular?" Bill had liked the speech though, false as it probably was.

"The first of course, and yes, I don't want a shadow Ministry being set up outside of our protocols."

"You know our basic numbers sir, we are hardly in a position to take over the government even if we were against you, which we're not." Bill's lie was so smooth that even Fleur almost believed it.

"Be that as it may, the fact that The Order of the Phoenix exists is a blight on The Ministry of Magic itself, it presumes that we cannot manage things as they should be managed."

"It hasn't in the past, and our organization is tasked solely with dealing with Lucius Malfoy and the other repatriated Death Eaters. Of course we wouldn't be necessary if you lot hadn't been so conciliatory to them in the first place." This last sentence was said rather pointedly, though it was nothing that Kingsley had not heard from Harry on more than one occasion.

"Mistakes were made, yes. But you seem to fail to realize that the True Voice manifesto, if you will, has a certain degree of popular support. It is only a matter of degrees that separates the Malfoys from the average citizen walking down Diagon Alley." Robards the politician mixed with Gawain the logician.

"And you sir? What is your position on the muggleborn issue? That seems to be their main cause." Of course the Order had but three muggleborns in its own ranks: Hermione, Lisa Turpin, and Neil Brunsden.

Robards leaned forward in his seat.

"It is patently ridiculous to consider excluding muggleborns from our society. If we ban them from Hogwarts, and therefore ban them from having wands, then more and more unexplainable behavior will lead the muggles to our door as those excluded try and figure out their powers. Never mind that eventually some muggleborn within our society right now could finally get tired of the exclusion and alert the muggles. One sneak attack into Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, and Hogwarts, and we would never recover. They wouldn't even have to use soldiers, they could just push a few buttons. Our numbers are already dwindling as it is, due to low birthrates and battle losses over the last three years. Another Battle of Hogwarts would lead our society to extinction, unless foreign blood came to the rescue, and how many of us want that? I can barely get the Wizengamot to deal with the Irish, let alone some nationality from the continent or outside of Europe."

He took a breath, this was quite a speech coming from Robards in such a setting. In Ministry meetings he preferred to let his subordinates do most of the talking, while he would just drop in comments in order to steer the conversation/discussion the way that he wanted it to go. Robards continued:

"Now, I must confess that I would like to see the muggle influences in our society be diminished somewhat. The more closely aligned we are with them, the more we lose our distinct heritage and culture. The American magical community is practically already muggle. They use computers, have portable phones, and use muggle currency. Now I know that Ms. Granger has a cellular phone, and likely so do more of our people. And we ourselves are eating in one of their finest restaurants. You and I Harry, live in muggle neighborhoods, both for security reasons of course. So I am not unmindful of the tinge of hypocrisy that my statements might engender in the three of you."

"As you said Minister, it is a matter of degrees." Harry was liking Robards, while still repeating to himself that this man had ordered Andromeda killed and was Lucius' handler. He kept repeating it in his mind like a mantra, while keeping his facial expression pleasant and interested. But for someone who did not come from a political background, he was coming off as quite the seasoned politician.

Robards looked at his watch, it was 9:00 pm. They had been presented with the check, and the server was within earshot:

"Well our excellent server will want her table back now, she does need to earn a living after all. Harry, Bill, Fleur, it has been a pleasure getting to know you all in such a relaxed setting. I hope that this will be the first of many."

Bill answered:

"So do we sir, it was a very pleasant dinner for all of us." Even he couldn't deny that, especially as he saw Robards pull a wad of muggle money from his pocket to pay the bill.

Hands were shaken all around, and Fleur held hers with Robards for a few seconds, just to make him have eye contact this once. He left the table a bit dazed, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Her point was made though, she had seen him avoiding her stare.

Bill gave them both the hand signal for 'keep quiet until we're home', and they left the restaurant, half expecting to be arrested once they were in the car park. They weren't though, and got in the SUV for the six kilometer drive back to 12. They removed the four Tracking Charms that were all over the car, and made sure that they had no stowaways in the back of it. The ride home was still in silence, even the CD player was turned off for this one trip, they could hear the rolling of the tires on the streets and the slight squeak of the brakes as they came to stops.

While they were making the 20 minute drive, Kingsley and Robards were already back at the latter's house, having taken a portkey.

"Kingsley my friend, you were very quiet tonight." He was glad of it though, even if he had been slightly eager to see Harry take some verbal shots at him.

"I was observing more than anything Gawain, it was an interesting evening."

"And what did you observe?"

"I believe that they burned that house down, or at the very least they know who did." Which was the same thing in his eyes.

"Interesting, what are you basing that on?"

"They were so casual in their denials, like 'eh, we didn't do it', even as they admitted that they enjoyed the result. Too casual, if you ask me."

"I agree that they were casual, but what makes you think it wasn't Lucius?"

"Because it's too easy, he would have to know that he's the natural chief suspect. He's been hiding sure, no one has seen hide nor hair of him this week, but he has to know that we'll get to him eventually. What do you think?"

"I think it's 50/50 between the two choices. I agree that they were too casual about it tonight, but for a different reason than you: They were performing for us. They were trying to act like they belong at the grownups table. And maybe they do, the two of them certainly hold a disproportionate amount of influence in our society, given their ages and occupations. But they wanted us to believe that too, that they belonged, and it was very telling." He had his own theory on the house burning, but withheld it from his subordinate for the time being.

"Were you tempted to order the arrest team in?" That's what Kingsley called it, though officially it was just a tripling of Robards' normal protection detail.

"I probably should have, yes. Eventually those two are going to have to be questioned under Veritaserum and forced to give up their secrets. But it was our invitation tonight, and they were our guests. To arrest them after all that, well that would have sent the wrong message. Besides, I didn't want to kick off a battle right there in the restaurant. One thing you know about Potter's people better than anyone: They will risk themselves to protect him."

"Yes they will, and that's the difference between his people with him and our people with you and me. Our people won't take a Killing Curse for either of us, but his people just might." Robards' live-in security detail was not in earshot, having been given the rest of the evening to themselves.

"Quite a young man, to have gained such fanatic loyalty." Almost wistful was his tone of voice.

Kingsley took that to mean that Robards wanted him to comment on it.

"It's because he always comes through when it counts Gawain, and he puts himself on the line first. He'd kill me for saying this, but it's one of the things he has most in common with Dumbledore. Albus always liked being where the action was, even though in the end he was a little complacent." That was as close as Kingsley would get to criticizing Dumbledore in front of anyone but his wife.

"Dumbledore had a personality cult built up as well, and it did him little favors at the end."

"That's why I said he got complacent. There was no one there to really argue with him, other than Snape perhaps, and there was a part of Albus that just couldn't take Snape seriously."

"Why was that?" Robards hadn't known either Dumbledore or Snape that well, and always welcomed Kingsley's stories about them.

"Snape wanted Harry to win, in the end, I truly believe that. But he still hated Harry's guts and always would. He just couldn't get over the Snivellus thing with James Potter, and a few hundred other slights. And Lily. So Albus was always forced to use that proverbial grain of salt every time that Snape talked about Harry and his situations, because that hatred would color it. Snape's ideal finish to the Voldemort problem was Harry killing Voldemort, and then tragically dying of his wounds."

Robards almost said that they would all be better off if that scenario had come to pass, but he knew that a comment like that would not go over very well. He looked contemplative for a moment, until Kingsley brought him back out of it.

"Are you really going to go to that class with Harry?" Kingsley had thought it merely a game of chicken when it happened.

"Why not? It's a one night a week diversion, and the wine he picked out was very good, so it must be paying off for him. Like I said to him earlier: It's a very eclectic hobby for a 19 year old, but that doesn't mean it's a bad one. No Kingsley, this was a good night for us."

10 minutes later, at Number 12 Grimmauld Place:

They were finally home, and alone in the house, since even Teddy was not there, on a sleepover at Luna's house after an evening of heaven knows what with her and her father. That meant that they could talk freely, none of their bodyguards were due back for awhile, they were all on a Harry financed late dinner of their own. Harry led off:

"So how close do you think we were to getting arrested?"

"Damn close, we both got a bit too cute about the Yaxley thing. Sooner or later they're going to haul us in on general principles, just to see what we know."

"They can try, but I will not go quietly." Harry was quiet, but resolute.

"Nor will I, so we have to be very careful when we're not here or in the bank. No big trips into Diagon Alley that aren't absolutely necessary. I'll have George put up some wards in the shop as well." George was still living at 12, even though Ginny had moved in. He claimed that he just couldn't be parted from Kreacher's cooking.

"You two want to move in here for the duration? It's better that we get all of our key people inside our 'bunker' here if something goes down."

It was true, that all of the major Order people lived in 12 or Hogwarts, other than Arthur and Molly in The Burrow, which they would never leave; Oliver and Katie, whose Glasgow flat was not registered with The Ministry; Luna; and Bill and Fleur, who along with Luna were probably the most vulnerable.

Bill looked at his wife:

"What do you think?" He knew that he would go along with whatever his wife wanted in this instance.

Fleur had fought like a wildcat to not have to live in The Burrow at the beginning of her marriage, and a lot of pressure had been put on her and Bill to do so. But she knew that this would be different, with Harry as the landlord. He would never try and coerce her into so much as doing the dishes, let alone anything else.

"Yes, I think we should, until all of this either blows over, or is resolved in some fashion. Our cottage is wonderful and I love it, but it is too vulnerable."

"There you have it sport fan. We'll pack up some things tonight and come over before bed. You should get Luna in here too, especially since she's around Teddy so much."

"I've tried, believe me. She was due to be third in here after Neville and myself, right after graduation, but she doesn't want to leave her father alone. There was some kind of drama there, but she wouldn't give me any details."

"Was this before or after you and Hermione became a couple?" Fleur was convinced that Luna was in love with Harry, but after the Pansy business she had stopped kidding him about it. Until now.

"Before, thank you Fleur. I love Luna like a sister, much as I love you." That Luna had been his Plan B if Hermione had not wanted to be with him back in July did not need to be brought up right now. He still thought the world of her though.

"Oh Harry, I love you too." Fleur planted an exaggerated kiss right on his cheek.

"Much as I love how you two are together, we need to hash this all out before the others get back." Bill was smiling though, he rather enjoyed how platonically devoted his wife was to his best friend.

"I'm sorry Boss."

Bill mock gritted his teeth.

"Anyway……what was with the wine invitation?"

"Playing chicken with him, like he'll show……okay, he'll show to the first one, just to say that he did. But the week after? Forget it."

"The week after is Christmas Eve Harry, I doubt you'll be having class that week, or on New Year's Eve." Bill happened to be looking at a calendar as he said it.

"Oh right." Harry was very disappointed.

"Fleur, you barely said anything during most of the meal, please tell me that you were observing things."

"Of course I was Bill, and you will note that our old friend Kingsley did much the same as I did. He was observing the two of you, trying to play on what he knew about you in the past, in order to see how you have changed. And to see how big a threat the two of you are."

"We need to sort him out at some point Bill.'

"When is your next boys night out due?" Bill was always invited on them, but he preferred to spend that time alone with Fleur.

"Beats me, nothing is scheduled. Why? You think that that's the best time to ask him?"

"Better then than in his office, where one false move and you're strapped to a chair imbibing bad liquids."

"Very true. Let me talk to Giles and Oliver, and see if we can get something together now that Hogwarts is about to let out." The train was due to leave in the morning, and Harry had again volunteered to ride shotgun, so to speak, on it.

"Something tells me he'll say no, we should have done it before tonight's dinner. But the milk is spilled. Promise him whatever you have to in order to get him to flip. He can make up a troika with the two of us if need be."

"I'll see what I can do, but I think it's past that now with Kingsley. I would bet that he doesn't know what Robards is really up to, or who he's in business with, but he won't believe me if I tell him."

"Then we'll have him talk to Lucius directly, it's why I've held off on killing him so far."

"Sounds good. Now what do we do about McGonagall?"

"Before or after she fires your ass?" Bill said it with a smile, but he was deadly serious.

"C'mon, she wouldn't go that far." He figured that his job was not the most attractive that Hogwarts had to offer, with little pay besides. There wouldn't be a stampede to try to grab it.

"We put her in her place today Harry, and she doesn't like that place. She won't get rid of Hermione, but I would be very surprised if you see the next term as Flying Instructor." If McG was feeling vindictive, it was the logical payback kind of move.

The next term was the one where Harry had the least to do in his job, as there were no games, so McG would have plenty of time to replace him.

"So who goes to her to smooth things over? C'mon Bill, you know that it has to be done eventually. We're close enough to the endgame that we can't have her and Flitwick turning on us now."

"I know, and I have two ideas, one logical and one a bit off to the side."

"The logical one is Hermione of course." Any fool could see that.

"Exactly. She has Minerva's affection, such as it is, but also the credibility of being your girlfriend, so our irritating Headmistress will assume that she has your ear…..and certain other parts."

"Very funny. And the off to the side one?"

"Attila Quirke. He has the credibility of siding with her at the meeting, while also knowing that we need him enough to listen to him. Send Hermione in first, then Quirke if that doesn't do the job."

"I'll talk to her tonight. What can she offer?"

"My word that no more killings, planned category, without notifying everyone in advance."

"And? That's what you told her in the room and she wasn't satisfied."

"Oh hell, she was satisfied, or she would have been if she hadn't been taken aback that I agreed to it. She had a head of steam built up in her mind, and when I agreed with her she just rolled right past as if I hadn't. As for the 'and', have Hermione tell her, in confidence, that I'll consult with her much more thoroughly if she does some weed testing in Hogwarts?"

"You mean for moles? I was wondering that was just a shot in the dark about us and her."

"Me too, and we should know either way. Say that if she does a Veritaserum test with all the teachers, then I'll put her at the top level in our hierarchy. Right up there with the three of us and Quirke. We won't actually do anything of the kind, not really, but have Hermione promise all the same."

"And if that doesn't work?" Harry had a hard time believing that McGonagall would buy that, even coming from Hermione.

"Then we send in Quirke. And if he doesn't close the deal? We close the deal on her, there are only so many lengths I'll go to in order to get her cooperation. Having her in the fold is useful, but Hogwarts is not the battleground right now, not if this is going to be a quick end. Tell you what, while Hermione is working on Minvera, I'll talk to Flitwick and do a back channel overture that way. He was always fond of me back in the day, and he'll be a lot more calm about things that she will." He didn't need to add that Slughorn would do what the other two did, so there was no point in approaching him with anything more than what they had decided.

"Got it, I'll have Hermione talk to her while I'm on the train coming back here." The train crew would be the same as in September, much as McG had frowned about it. Again, the determining factor had been that Harry, Giles, and Soren had been the only ones to volunteer, and the Headmistress was not willing to just assign people.

"I'm surprised that they're even having the train, after what happened on the way up there in September."

"McGonagall says that we should behave as if they're no threat, or some crap like that, I wasn't listening too closely. A few people argued that we should just have everyone floo home, but I stayed out of it." Harry said very little during faculty meetings, feeling that he was not really a member of the faculty. It was one of the few traits he shared with his predecessor Hooch.

"Well Lucius can't plan any more mayhem, so if anything happens it would be Robards. Should be a delightful morning for us all.

An hour later, Bill and Fleur became the 11th and 12th denizens of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Bill being the fifth Weasley sibling to move in. Upon hearing the news, George made a crack about the place turning into the Urban Burrow. But he only said it once after seeing the expression on Harry's face, Harry had still not been back to the real Burrow since Molly had kicked him out of the family.

Hermione and the others came back while Bill and Fleur were packing, and got told about their new housemates, whereupon George made his crack. Hermione readily agreed to talk to McG, she privately felt that Harry and Bill had been wanting to tell the older woman off for months, and had used this day as the opportunity to vent. But she didn't say anything, the two boys were going to some trouble to smooth things over and she had to give them credit for that. As Harry and Hermione got ready for bed:

"So what do you think of him?"

"Robards?"

"It must have been strange, sharing a meal with someone who did all of those things."

"A bit surreal at times, yeah. I don't know Hermione, he just seems like another political type trying to hold on to power. In a way he's just a more polished and slicker sounding Fudge."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Well it's not good, that's for sure."

"When will he make his move? I can't believe that he hasn't caught on to Lucius yet."

"That's the one negative about his job, being Minister of Magic is a full time occupation, just like our jobs. It doesn't leave as much time for intrigue as one might like."

Hermione had to laugh at that one.

"So when does Luna move in?"

"I'll try again tomorrow, maybe we can offer the last room to her, and the basement area to her dad and he can come too." The basement could, with some fixing up, be made into a living area/office.

"We're crammed to the gills, it's like Hogwarts all over again."

"But no Slytherins, which is just how I like it."

Sunday, December 14, 1999

Hogwarts, and the Hogwarts Express

4:15 pm

Hermione's talk with McGonagall was inconclusive, at best. The Headmistress knew that someone was going to be sent to placate her, and even figured that it would be Hermione. Hermione said all the right things, struck the right conciliatory note without actually groveling, and left the office with the situation in better shape than when she had walked in. Or so she thought.

Bill's chat with Flitwick went much better, as the two talked like old friends for over half an hour before even getting to the events of the day before. Flitwick agreed that McG was a little touchy, but said that Bill and Harry had to respect, to a point, her position in the magical society. He promised that he would speak to her, and in either event, he would be at the next Order meeting, scheduled for a week from now, at 12.

The train was not attacked during the ride down, and Harry, Giles, and Soren spent most of the ride playing Hold 'Em Poker with special guests Natalie McDonald and Orla Quirke. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans were used as the coin of the day, and the quite inscrutable Orla bluffed everyone to hell and back, and won the majority of the beans.

It was on the platform, as the students were all meeting their parents, when it happened. An unseen parent slipped a note into Harry's left hand as he had been shaking hands with another parent with his right. He didn't read it right away, Platform 9 ¾ was a no Apparition/no portkey zone, so there was no danger. But once everyone was gone:

_Harry,_

_Meet me in the back west corner table of The Leaky Cauldron. We need to talk._

_A. Diggory_

End Chapter


	43. Being Penned In

Sunday, December 14, 1999, continued

Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross Station

4:20 pm

Harry looked at the note and was immediately suspicious. Why would Amos Diggory of all people want to talk to him? Was he looking to cut a deal of some sort? And was this even Diggory anyway? Harry didn't know the man's handwriting, and there probably wasn't time to go to Arthur to verify it. Or was there?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Giles Keenan come up to him, they had planned to go back to 12 for dinner. Without comment, he handed Keenan the note, which the other man quickly scanned.

"You buying this?"

"Not yet. Take it and go to The Burrow, confirm that this is Diggory's handwriting, and meet me at the pub. I'll take my time getting there, but I doubt that the guy will linger if he thinks that I'm not coming.."

"You want more backup?"

Harry assumed that he meant Molly and Arthur.

"God no, tell them both to stay home. You and I will be fine if this in on the level. Giles, if they wanted to arrest me, they would have done it before we got on the train. Or they would have done it right now." I hope, but he didn't say that. He could tell that Keenan knew what he meant anyway.

Keenan quickly Apparated to Bill's cottage, where he told the Order leader what was happening, and why he needed to floo to The Burrow right quickly. Bill sent Fleur over to the pub as another backup for Harry, and then went with Keenan to talk to Arthur, who confirmed that the handwriting belonged to his sort of neighbor and longtime colleague.

"What do you think is going on here son?"

"A very lucky break, if this is legitimate. Thanks Dad, we'll let you know what happens." He figured that his father had earned that much, though any report would be heavily edited.

The two of them took the floo to The Leaky Cauldron from the house, with Bill putting on a Glamour Charm, just in case. Harry was lingering just out of sight of the table where Diggory was supposed to be waiting for him.

"It's good Harry." Giles told Harry about Fleur, but not Bill, just to give him an extra layer of security.

"Thanks Giles. If you hear me say the word 'midfielder', then come a running."

"Got it, be careful."

"I always am now mate."

He walked toward the table, having already had his wand ready. The pub was getting more and more crowded by the minute, as Hogwarts students and their parents got an early supper, but Harry managed to walk through without incident. He got to the corner, one of the special corner tables for meetings like this that Tom had, and saw his host:

It was, in fact, Amos Diggory.

"Mr. Diggory."

"Harry. Please sit down."

Neither man offered to shake hands, The Leaky Cauldron did not have anti-portkey wards up, and one never knew in this day and age. Especially after what had happened to Harry and Cedric not too many years ago. That night was on the mind of both men as they nodded greetings to each other.

"Thank you." Harry threw up a Silencing Bubble, and did a quick scan for anything out of place. Nothing was.

"How was the train ride?" Diggory assumed that he would have heard something if it had been attacked again.

"Totally uneventful, I was delighted." It was rare for Harry to have a Hogwarts Express ride without drama, though perhaps this qualified, since he was on the platform when he got the note. He couldn't decide.

"One can imagine. My apologies for not offering you a drink, but I would rather that our meeting go unnoticed." So no Tom the barman.

"Then why have it in such a public place?"

"Because you never would have met me in a private one, and you know it. Did Arthur verify my handwriting?"

Harry had the grace to smile.

"You would have thought less of me had I not checked."

"Very true. Does anyone else know of this?"

"Only people that I trust completely. And on your end?" He supposed that he could trust Arthur.

"My wife and one other person only, I do not have the friends and allies that you can count on."

"Yet something tells me that you want to change that." He assumed that Diggory would identify the other friend when he was ready.

"I would like to discuss a mutual problem that we have."

"I'm always willing to listen." He was thinking Kingsley as the problem.

"Then listen at Hogwarts in your office. That way no one can overhear us, look at us, and we have time to make sure that neither of us is using Polyjuice."

Harry, a careful man himself, was very impressed here. Diggory's appointment to the DMLE was a political one, and controversial at the time, but the man had clearly picked up a trick or two.

"Fair enough, the three of us will take the floo to The Three Broomsticks, and then walk up to Hogwarts. By the time we get to my office the wait time will be at least half over."

"Who else is watching us?"

"My darling sister is lurking around here somewhere, she'll come with us. And God help you if you try anything." He figured that he and Fleur could deal with any problems and get away successfully.

Diggory had all but memorized Harry's file, the one that Harry himself had a copy of thanks to Lucius Malfoy. Nowhere in that file mentioned a sister, but then he assumed that it was a reference to Ginny Weasley.

"Follow me then."

Diggory got up, after putting a Glamour Charm of his own on, and Harry followed him to the floo. Harry threw up his hand and moved two fingers around a bit, his signal that Fleur should follow him. Harry, Bill, and Fleur had come up with these signals before the wedding caper, just in case they would be needed in the future. They were very handy in public places such as this one, and Fleur fell in right behind them, revealing herself to Diggory only after Harry went through the floo first.

"After you." She motioned with an elegant looking hand, implying both grace and menace at the same time.

Amos shivered a little bit, as he alone realized that he was doing business with two of the people in the Tri-Wizard Tournament along with his son. It wouldn't have surprised him a bit to find Viktor Krum waiting for him at Hogwarts.

It would have surprised Viktor Krum though, as he was currently eating a falafel in his favorite restaurant in Sofia, Bulgaria, with his parents.

The walk to Hogwarts was made in relative silence, as Harry was wondering more about what McGonagall would say if she found the three of them plotting together. Diggory did not need anyone's permission to enter the school, DMLE Heads had castle privileges as part of their Ministry purview, but McG would still want to know. But there was nothing else to do but wait and see if they were spotted. There was no way that Harry was going to invite this man into 12, and he was convinced that The Burrow was riddled with every experimental Surveillance Charm that the Ministry was capable of placing.

Harry's office was only a five minute walk once they got in the front door, and Harry made Diggory put a Disillusionment Charm on himself once inside, to fool the dozens of paintings that they passed by, and well as any ghosts.

"I'd better be able to hear you walking." It was a big risk, but one he felt was necessary. Of course Arthur could very easily tell his new ally McG about the whole thing, but Harry was counting on Bill's father not thinking that the real meeting would be in Hogwarts.

But it turned out fine, and soon the three of them were behind a locked door.

"Now how about I offer you a drink Mr. Diggory?"

Kreacher was called for, and soon Amos was trying his first bottle of Coca-Cola, which immediately started his heart a racing, but he liked the taste of it.

"I think you should call me Amos, Harry."

"I will, thank you. Now while we still do have 22 minutes to burn before Polyjuice is finished, I am very interested to hear what's on your mind."

"We have a mutual problem Harry, his name is Gawain Robards."

Harry didn't know whether to do a 'I just scored a goal' dance or put Alarm Charms on the door waiting for his arrest. So he compromised by smiling pleasantly and temporizing.

"How is Robards a problem for either of us?"

"He is aiming to be King Gawain I, and he's going to get it, if we're not careful."

"You keep saying 'we' like this is an issue for me. I had dinner with the man last night, and he was a pleasant guy throughout."

"I think that Robards is secretly in league with Lucius Malfoy."

Okay, that made it an issue. Harry knew that Diggory was correct, but wanted to hear the other man's reasoning.

"I'm listening, what makes you think this?"

"Because he's using my troops for secret missions, and somehow not thinking that I would become aware of it."

Now both Harry's and Fleur's eyebrows raised, as Harry replied:

"I'm sorry to put it like this Amos, but the understanding that Fleur and I have is that Kingsley runs that department while you deal with the press and are the utility person within the Ministry. Department Head without Portfolio, if you will."

"Very true, to an extent. But all the paperwork crosses my desk, and I read it all. You know those two that attacked your Quidditch game?"

"Of course."

"Did you know that they have since escaped custody?"

There had been no trial announcement, but Harry just assumed that it was coming eventually.

"No, I did not know that. How did it happen?"

"They were being transported to Azkaban two weeks ago, but they managed to get loose and Apparate away. The guards, not Aurors, were lightly disciplined and allowed to stay on the job. I suppose that Robards and Shacklebolt didn't mention this last night?"

"You suppose correct, but they can still justify it by saying that it was ultimately none of my business. It wouldn't be wise to say, but they could say it."

"Are you aware that both WWW and The Burrow are under heavy Auror watch?"

"I assumed it, yes. But it's hard to know for sure, and I haven't been to The Burrow in months anyway."

"Yes, I heard about the Percy thing. Enough to split a family."

"I agree, and to a point it did." Amos and Arthur were friends, Harry didn't see the harm in sharing that much with him.

"The Aurors on site are instructed to report on every movement in and out of those two buildings, as well as that of your own home. Number 12 Grimmauld Place is scanned for magical persons at least twice every hour, on an imprecise schedule, in case you should get wind of it and try to dodge it."

Harry hadn't thought to have bottles of Veritaserum spiked Coke available when needed, and he was really regretting it right about now. But if all this was true……

"Where are they stationed, the ones at Grimmauld Place?"

"They are in the house directly across the road, and I mean directly. The road is just narrow enough to do a full scan of the house. They also have intermittent roving patrols during the late afternoon and early evening, a total of seven people are assigned to your house alone."

"The house is under Fidelius, how are they doing that?"

"It's the house that can't be seen visually or magically, not its contents. You are hidden, yes, but your presence there is not. I don't know if they get so specific as to knowing whether you are in bed or not, but you should assume that they are. Robards is nothing if not thorough."

"So I've heard, and if you don't mind me interrupting you to ask: Why are you so willing to cross him?"

"We didn't act last time until it was too late, by the time Scrimgeour took over as Minister the die was already cast. We have a chance this time, we can be prepared. You have an organization ready for action, and ready for him."

"I'm still unclear on how you think that Lucius Malfoy and Gawain Robards are in league together."

"All the watchers I mentioned to you? There's not one at any house that is owned by a True Voice member. Now why would they shadow you so closely but not them?"

Why indeed, Harry thought, still trying to decide how much to share with this man.

"How involved in this is Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"He knows about the monitoring of course, but not its true purpose. The Aurors and other DMLE personnel at those sites report to both him and Robards, but the reports are not necessarily as thorough when given to Kingsley as they are to Robards."

"Who is watching at Hogwarts? Who is their inside person or persons?" He had difficulty believing that the entire castle could be scanned, though technically there should only be a set amount of people inside at a given time, depending on which teachers were away.

"Their inside students are Head Boy Connor Greengrass of Slytherin, and Jaina Fisher, a Hufflepuff Prefect. The teacher on the payroll is Milo Sonnanstine of Transfiguration. He was a Robards plant from minute one, even before Robards officially became Minister." This last part was not something he had ferreted out, but was a plan that Robards had told him and Kingsley almost a year ago.

This did explain quite a bit to Harry. Milo Sonnanstine was arguably the weakest teacher on the faculty, though his resume was decent enough. But his hallmark was papers and tests that were returned very late, sometimes after a month or more. Now Harry understood the reason for this behavior, the man had other activities going on that needed attending to. Though what to do about it was his question.

"How close is their surveillance?"

"The students have informants in each of the Houses, and Sonnanstine has Listening Charms up all over the place, though not in this office, McGonagall's, or your lady friend's. I would guess that he assumes that you three would check more than most."

"Is Soren Bender a Ministry mole?"

"No, they've left her alone."

"Giles Keenan?"

"No, they assume that he works for Gringott's here in the castle, and the goblins don't approve of double agents or those running them."

"We assume that too. Shit. This still doesn't add up to hard evidence that the Malfoys are working with Robards."

"You're the one with the evidence, which is why you've been keeping your cards so close to the vest in the last few minutes."

"Well I don't have to prove anything to you, you have to prove it to me if you want my help."

"Give me the dose of Veritaserum and I'll prove it."

"Fair enough."

Harry walked over to the cabinet, but instead of opening it, he reached behind it, where a one dose vial of the truth drug was duct taped. It was so muggle a hiding method that he presumed that no one would look there. The seal was still as he had left it, and he brought it over.

Diggory drained it like a shot of rye, and Harry got him to repeat the same information as before. While he was doing so, Fleur got the secrecy parchment, and had Diggory sign it, though he would not be joining the Order just yet.

"Yes, I have proof that Lucius and Robards are working together." Harry felt a little more free to talk now that the parchment had been signed, the document was the gift that kept on giving.

"What kind of proof?"

"We have Lucius Malfoy in custody."

Amos dropped his Coke bottle on the ground, his mouth hanging open, the sound of soda fizzing could be heard by all three of them.

"For how long?" He didn't think that Harry would bluff about something like this.

"Long enough." That was as far as he was willing to go there.

"You burned the house down?"

Harry wasn't about to tell this man everything right now, the least reason being that he didn't want to give the man a heart attack.

"I don't know what happened to casa de Yaxley, only that Robards and Kingsley are blaming me for it. Is it possible that they burned it down?"

"It's possible, but unlikely. It's too much of a risk for him to take."

Harry took a deep breath, needing to focus……..but before he could say anything:

"Have you seen the agenda for next week's meeting of the full Wizengamot?"

"Assume that I haven't." Harry was now slightly ruing the day that they had banished Percy and not tried to make him work for them. But he knew that this wouldn't be good.

Diggory pulled a set of papers from one of his pockets, enlarged them, and slid them over. Harry knew enough here to know that he didn't know enough, and Fleur probably wouldn't either.

"Another assumption you can make is that neither of us know Wizengamot-speak, so tell me in layman's terms what is going on."

"A series of bills and amendments to other bills, in response to the Yaxley fire. The first bill requires the registration of all magical residences, no exceptions. The penalty is forfeiture of the house and a year in prison."

"My home is registered, so are all of the others in the group." Except for Oliver and Katie's place, and they had politely declined a room in 12. He would have to talk with them as soon as possible, though Harry had heard through the grapevine that something close to half of the houses of well known Quidditch players were unregistered, because of past incidents with the Department of Magical Games and Sport and various rabid fans paying officials off.

"The amendment is the kicker: All wards in all of those houses are to be Ministry registered. That includes everything from charms that childproof medicine cabinets to ones that deal with anti-intrusion."

Harry and Fleur looked at each other for a moment, they both knew that there had to be at least 100 different wards in 12, at the minimum, though at least a dozen dealt with Teddy issues. Just cataloguing the whole lot of them would take the better part of an afternoon unless everyone pitched in. Not that Harry planned to do that, though a list might not be such a bad idea if kept within the family.

"How are they going to enforce that?"

"A routine inspection of all homes, beginning on December 27, assuming that the bill passes. And it will pass Harry, it wouldn't be put up for consideration unless the votes were arranged ahead of time."

"I'll need your help with the inspection schedule." He supposed that they could go to the hassle of taking them all down, the ones for defense. But what charms would be put up by the inspectors? Harry assumed that an entire platoon of them would be sent to his house in particular.

"Done."

"What other bills are in the hopper?"

"A suspension of habeas corpus."

The ultimate tool in enforcing martial law was that suspension, though usually it was done in a de facto fashion, such as Fudge and his predecessors had done with Hagrid and Sirius.

"There is no way that could pass, could it?" Fleur was shaking her head, even as she knew what he was going to say.

"It wouldn't come up unless the votes were there Fleur. There is no such thing as a surprise decision in The Wizengamot these days, even trials are predetermined. Robards has quietly been installing his own people and getting dirt on members who might seem like they would go against him. Remember, it only takes 60 percent to pass a bill, so there can be the appearance of a debate, even if the decision is a foregone conclusion."

"Surely there would be a public outcry over these bills, right? Once word leaks out in The Daily Prophet……" Harry just couldn't believe that yet another Minister was trying this crap all over again.

"That won't be a problem, as they won't be told about it until the inspections are almost ready to go. The bills will be done in closed session, with an announcement to come on Boxing Day in The Daily Prophet and over the WWN. I should say, an announcement of the inspections, the suspension of habeas corpus will remain their little secret. They don't know that you have allied yourself with the Quirkes for a fact, but the change in attitude by the paper did not go unnoticed."

"All this to try and pen me in? Or are there larger issues?"

Diggory reminded himself that Harry was just 19 and had only in the last few months begun to pay attention to these things.

"Yes, and yes. He needs those two bills, along with some ancillary ones, to completely consolidate his power base, and remove anyone who is in a position to threaten him. You will be the prize catch, so to speak. But it will all be done legally, in a manner of speaking. I would imagine that he'll trump up some charges and have you detained. Because of the no habeas corpus, there does not need to be a trial, and I would be surprised if you're transported immediately to Azkaban and are killed while trying to escape."

What frustrated Harry right now was that there was really no logical way that this could have been prevented. None of the longer-term Order members were on the Wizengamot, McG was not liked enough nor Arthur respected enough to gain seats, and Flitwick and Slughorn just did not have the time. Everyone else was too young, aside from Bender who was just barely old enough. So they could have had no warning, no way to head this off before the apparently done deal that was to take place in the coming week. It did make him think about something.

"How the hell did Quirke not know about all of this? If anyone in our group should have sources in there it should be him." Quirke was so new to the group that Harry often forgot to think of him.

"I would be very careful with Attila Quirke, Harry. He seems to be on your side, but rest assured, whatever happens he'll be on the winning side. Even if all it takes is some well placed and chosen inaction. Or maybe his sources failed him, it's hard to say." Diggory, as part of his ad-hoc responsibilities, dealt with Quirke's people pretty much everyday, and Quirke himself at least once a week.

"Who is your other person? You can't have culled together this much information and insight all by your lonesome."

"Tanner Leonidis, Ministry Comptroller. Arthur's school roommate if my memory serves me." He had just been waiting for Harry to ask.

Harry supposed that it did, the elder Weasley rarely ever talked about his Hogwarts days in front of him, except as they pertained to Molly. But Leonidas being in on it made sense to Harry, the head money counter would know where everything was buried, since everything had to be paid for in some way, and Gawain Robards did not come from a wealthy family and could not finance things himself. Lucius had told Harry and Bill multiple times that he had not actually paid any galleons to Robards, either directly or indirectly.

"And he is prepared to work with us? Or merely attest to the veracity of your statements and theories?"

"Both, he doesn't like any of this happening any more than I do. If you'll permit me a pun, he prefers order."

"Why me? Why not approach Bill, or even Arthur? You and I make a strange match."

"Yes we do, but that history is why I can trust you. You watched my son die, you know what can happen if we allow those forces to gain control again. You've walked the walk, as the muggles say. Not that Bill and Arthur weren't involved, but the war is not won without you taking out that thing."

"Alright then, I can see your point I suppose. Are you asking to join The Order?"

"Yes, and Tanner as well."

"Done."

Fleur held up a 'not so fast' hand.

"Amos, if you may allow me what you English call a 'shot in the dark'. Are you hoping to perhaps replace Robards as Minister if the time were to come?"

Diggory was still under Veritaserum for the next five minutes.

"Yes. I'm third in line, why not me? You would prefer that horse trading Wizengamot Chief we have now? The one who is about try to help bring you down?"

Harry and Fleur looked at each other again, and he responded.

"Just so we're clear, is that the price for your cooperation? Our help in securing Minister of Magic for you?" He knew that he should have asked this a hair bit sooner.

"Yes it is."

Well this changed things a little bit as far as Harry was concerned, but not substantially. The information that had already been shared was worth a little effort to make this man Minister, and of the top four possibilities he was still the best.

"This is not my decision to make, but I'll sell it to Bill and the others. Consider yourself in."

"Good, when can I expect to be contacted?"

"Well that begs the question, how closely are you watched by Robards and his people?"

"I'm not high on his list of priorities, but I have a loose watch on me because of my position. He does not know I was in the pub today for instance, because I was very careful in my movements, though one must always assume that The Leaky Cauldron has Ministry watchers. But in the office? It's constant."

"We'll do it through your friend the Comptroller then, the guy must do business with Gringott's all the time, and an owl from the bank won't cause a stir. It will be from Rafe Spall, and will give a meeting place and a time."

"Who is Rafe Spall?"

"Someone from my past, no one you need worry about." Rafe Spall had been Harry's math teacher in his last year before Hogwarts, and the name always stuck with Harry for some reason. But he knew that Diggory and possibly Leonidas would be curious, and that wasn't so bad either. Spall was not in his file, either.

"Look, I'd better get home before my wife starts to worry. She sends her best, she's always talked about how gracious you were after…….well, after……."

Harry cut him off, as it was obviously a difficult thing for him to say.

"I understand Amos. I want you to know that whenever I was flagging, toward the end of the war, all I had to do was remember what they did to your son, and it kept me going. It got me through some very hard times during that last year, his memory."

Diggory was clearly very moved, and rushed out before the tears could come, as they still did whenever Cedric was talked about, even three years later.

"Thank you for that Harry. I'll await your message, goodnight." He took the floo over to Diagon Alley, and Harry and Fleur were left alone.

"That last part you said, was it true?" Fleur had been a bit moved by it as well.

Harry's reply was quiet at first.

"I wouldn't lie about something like that. Now how deep a shit are we in here?"

"About neck high if those bills pass like the man claims. But Amos Diggory as Minister of Magic?" That put it above the eyeballs as far as Fleur was concerned, as she saw Harry chuckle a little bit.

"I know, I can't picture it either. But I can't picture a decent Minister period, so my vision is skewed."

"Your vision is 20/80 on a good day my friend." She winked at him.

"Ah the French sense of humor, lovely. Let's go talk to your……..no, wait. Let's go see the darling Minerva and tell her about this. She wanted more input, she can get it now." He was gong to enjoy this.

Fleur shrugged, not seeing the harm, and they walked upstairs to McG's office, where the Headmistress was about to head down to dinner.

"Harry, Fleur." She was wondering if this was act three of the soothe her ruffled feathers plan, as Flitwick had been to see her not long after Hermione. Still, she was impressed by the effort in any case.

"Minerva."

"Minerva." In yet another Harry/Fleur in sync moment, Bill always said that they should do a comedy club together sometime.

"Something tells me that you're not here for dinner." Bender, who lived in the castle, had already given her a train report, so she didn't think this was another one.

"No thank you, but something has come up, and we'd like to share it with you." This was said in a much different tone than Harry wanted to use right now.

He gave her the Amos Diggory story, leaving out little details like his Veritaserum stash and other odds and ends, but giving her the bulk of what went on.

"What does Bill say?"

"We haven't told him yet, we figured since we were here already we should tell you." He loved the surprised look on her face upon hearing that she was getting the dope before the Order's official leader.

"Well I appreciate the courtesy. I cannot envision Amos Diggory as Minister either, for much the same reasons as the two of you probably. But he is honest and incorruptible, and we need that right now. My vote is to cooperate with him."

"Thanks, I'll stop by for lunch in mid-week and we can talk about it some more. The other teachers will love Teddy." Teddy had not yet taken a meal in The Great Hall, but only because Harry had not gotten around to it yet. Better that it be a time when only a couple dozen students were staying, as was the case now.

"What do you suggest that I do about Professor Sonnanstine?" She wanted to show Harry that he was not the only one who could be conciliatory.

Harry had taken very great delight at telling her about the mole on her faculty, though he thought that he hid it well.

"Well don't let him know that we're on to him. Were you really planning to fire him at the end of the year like the scuttlebutt says?" Natalie McDonald kept him abreast of the Hogwarts rumor mill, and Orla Quirke was now doing likewise.

"I was leaning towards it, the Transfiguration teacher at the Irish magical school is from Wales, and had responded favorably to my overtures."

"Shall we try to trump something up to get him out of here sooner? I'm just throwing out ideas, he falls completely within your jurisdiction as far as The Order goes."

A pleasant surprise for McG, who was actually smiling now.

"Let us talk about it as a whole on Saturday. It's the winter break now, and he can learn nothing useful for the next few weeks. I'll let Filius and Soren know about these developments, no need for you to do a tour of the offices." She left out Slughorn, who didn't really want to know about such things unless they directly affected him, and she assumed that Harry would tell Keenan.

"Great, now if you'll excuse us, we'd better go tell Bill and eat some dinner."

"In that order Harry." Fleur knew that Bill would like Harry's play here though.

"Yes dear."

The two of them left, and McGonagall went to talk to Flitwick, their plan apparently was working.

Bill was surprised only that Diggory had waited so long to talk to them, if being Minister was what he was after here. He agreed that it was worth talking about to the entire group, and they tentatively agreed to wait until the meeting on Saturday, but to send a message to Diggory assuring him that since they were on board, the rest of the Order would be on board as well.

"Look, we don't have a better alternative than him do we? Flitwick told me this morning that he's going to die in his bed at Hogwarts, he'll never leave there. That was our best option."

"What about Attila? He's got the brains and the organizational ability to do it." Harry threw that out there just to see how Bill would react.

"Oh that would be terrific, The Minister of Magic in control of the country's newspaper." He was about to on ranting when he saw Harry's snickering, and figured out that it was a wind up.

"Calm down boss, your blood pressure will get too high. So you're in favor?"

"I suppose so, but let's see how he performs over the next few weeks before we write anything in blood. But that information he gave us was very useful, it's worth the effort just for that."

"That's what I was thinking. What are we going to do when The Ministry comes knocking on the door of my house?"

"They can't do that, remember? All they can do is demand that you allow them in through the floo, or demand that you walk with them through the front door, effectively rendering the Fidelius useless." Harry himself was the secret keeper for 12, and each house could restrict floo access by the use of a simple password formula, in theory unbreakable.

"Well they're not coming in, I'm not taking down all of those wards just so I can put them back up again when they leave. They'll find something wrong anyway, that's what inspectors do, they wouldn't get paid otherwise."

"We'll think of something, we have almost two weeks before they start."

"12 will be first, you watch."

"No arguments or bets there, that's where it begins. Or ends, depending on how things go that day."

Later on that night, at Gawain Robards' home:

"They were only together for five minutes, and then left for Hogsmeade. We tracked them up to the castle, but couldn't get inside of course." 38 year old Macel Phideas was Robards' top undercover person, and had been assigned to watch Harry after the train arrived. After the death of Nymphadora Tonks, she was the only Metamorphagus inside The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, though technically speaking she was only an investigator, not an Auror.

Robards mulled this over.

"Talk to Sonnanstine and get access to the castle, and more importantly Potter's office. Put up the Exigous Charm that we've been playing with, it should defeat a simple scan."

"Why not create a dead spot in the office and put in a muggle tape recorder, one that is designed to be voice activated? It's something that Potter wouldn't think to look for."

"Do them both, once you gain access to the castle, and do likewise to the offices of Slughorn and Bender."

"Not Keenan?" She assumed that Flitwick's and McGonagall's offices would be too well protected.

"Who knows what anti-intrusion measures the goblins have cooked up, and besides, we don't want to mess with their man if we can help it."

"Right, I'll contact our professor first thing in the morning." Hogwarts professors all still had grades to compile and tests to mark, so they would all be in their offices come the next couple of days.

"Who do you think Potter was meeting?"

"Someone he was very wary about Minister, he approached that table like the other person might have mayhem in mind."

"So it couldn't have been Kingsley then."

"I doubt Kingsley would attack him. Arrest him maybe, but not attack him." She liked Kingsley, but thought that his true loyalty would ultimately be to Harry.

"No, Kingsley would never arrest Potter or a Weasley unless I ordered him to. He's a good man, and very necessary for what we're doing here. But he's not a true believer in our cause."

"And he is a good conduit to Potter, if need be. Perhaps a more direct offer could be issued to Potter, he does seem far more practical than he used to be." Phideas was not usually one to give advice to her boss, but the man did seem……slightly off, when talking about Harry Potter, and she was not the only one who was noticing.

"Let's see how he reacts when we send two dozen Aurors into his house to inspect it, then we'll talk to him about a deal. We need to be negotiating from a position of strength."

"Why not just have him killed and get it over with? The Order can't survive without his cachet or his money." She liked the idea of Harry in the fold, if he was really willing. But him being on the outside was just consuming too many resources and too much thought time for her comfort level.

"Then we make him a martyr, and we can't be having that now can we?" Robards wanted no martyrs of any kind, it was the only reason he had been wary of Andromeda being murdered.

"Leverage then, arrest Hermione Granger and that will make him bargain really quickly." She saw a light go on in his eyes.

"Now that one could work, though in this case we would need an official charge to bring her up on, even without habeas corpus. We'll make it a sweep of Hogwarts professors, even get Sonnanstine so as to avoid suspicion. After Christmas, but before the next term starts. Good Macel, very good."

Macel Phideas, a walking Polyjuice Potion, was smiling, as was her boss.

Over the course of the next week, all of the Order members were sounded out in some fashion or another about Amos Diggory's proposal. Ironically it was Arthur who voiced the most concern, not wanting someone as emotionally unstable as his friend to hold the top job.

"Please don't get the idea that you can control him once he's in power Bill. That only works with Ministers who want and need money, like Fudge, and Bagnold before him. With ones like Robards and Diggory, it's the cause that matters, even if Harry is willing to keep him on the payroll permanently." And he suspected that Harry wasn't willing at all.

Harry was not part of the lobbying effort, as he, Hermione, Oliver, and Katie were on a couples vacation to Ibiza, along with special guest Teddy, whom Harry was just not willing to be parted from for four days. They were the guests of one of Clive's business associates, using his villa, and everyone came back Saturday with a nice tan. Even Teddy had a pleasant flush to him, he had enjoyed making the large sand castle that he, Oliver, and Harry had designed.

Harry had taken a portkey back on Wednesday for his wine tasting class, with Gawain Robards as his perhaps one time guest. He wasn't going to miss this for the world, it was worth the cost to him. He introduced Robards to the class as one of his father's old friends, not true, and no attention was really paid to The Minister after that.

They talked of nothing magical during the class of course, sticking to muggle politics, the weather, Chelsea, and the wine itself. Robards was pleasant throughout, and the two got along well enough. True to what Bill had said, the Robert Kanin, the wine expert, announced that that next class would be on January 7, 2000, skipping Christmas and New Years Eves.

As Harry and Gawain shook hands outside the door:

"Thank you for this Harry, I had a great time."

"I'm glad you came Gawain, you're always welcome."

"I'll be back in January."

But both of them knew that he was lying, though Robards probably didn't know that Harry knew.

The waiting was almost over.

End Chapter


	44. Canon Compliant, Or Not

Saturday, December 20, 1999

Percy Weasley's flat, Zurich, Switzerland

2:00 pm Swiss time

Percy and Penelope were laying on the couch, bodies entwined after their lovemaking. Percy was grinning from ear to ear, it had been three weeks since her last visit, and three weeks since………well, anything of this nature had happened.

"I'm so glad you came over, it's quite a surprise." Still with the grin, he liked showing his appreciation for such things.

"It was my Christmas present from my parents, a plane ticket to wherever I wanted. And of course I wanted to be with you."

"It's lovely, I'll send them an owl to thank them."

"I'm sure they would appreciate that, they still talk of you fondly."

This was news to Percy, who had always understood that the Clearwater family disapproved of him. But he thought little more about it, as Penelope got up.

"I'm going to fix us something to drink."

"That would be great, I'll have what you're having." He knew that she liked tea, he always kept her favorite blend in the cupboard. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feelings of the moment, as he heard her rooting through the kitchen for a few moments.

She came back with two glasses of chocolate milk, something Percy loved but thought that she didn't. He took the proffered glass and chugged half of it right away, the man did have fluids to replace after all. He sipped the rest of it, as she sat down, putting his head in her lap, so that he looked up at her.

"So do you miss Britain?"

"I guess I do, I miss the familiarity of it. I miss Mum's cooking, Hogsmeade and all that." She brought this up, in some fashion, on every visit.

"Hogsmeade is wonderful this time of year, it's a shame that you can't come visit it right now."

"Right now? I've been banished for life, unless those plonkers change their minds." He was surprised to feel Penelope jump a bit as he said that, but she started stroking his face and he forgot all about it.

"Which of them has to change their mind? Just Harry and Bill?"

"And two others, I think Longbottom is one of them, but I didn't read it that closely. Potter and my suck up brother won't change their minds though." That was why Percy had not read the document thoroughly, he just assumed that anyone else who signed would do what Bill and Harry told them to do.

"Why not?"

"Because they hate me, because Mum loves me best, and because it gives them something to lord over me. I'm only surprised that they haven't made the trip over here to gloat about it."

"Maybe they will once everything is taken care of."

"I hope not, it's not like I can harm them."

"But I know that you want to, would like to." Penelope's voice was very soothing, and combined with the face stroking, was working wonders with Percy.

"The parchment won't let me, or you. Otherwise I would have asked you to help me with it."

"I know, its way too restrictive isn't it?"

"Both of them are, the non-violence one and the secrecy one. I mean honestly, the idea of having to watch what you say at every moment if someone not in the know is around you. It's one reason I didn't mind being banished."

Penelope was no longer smiling, but Percy couldn't see that from where his head was resting. His eyes were still closed anyway.

"You've been in Potter's house, if somehow we could get around the parchments, how would you assault it?"

It didn't occur once to Percy to question why his gentle girlfriend was being so agreeable and bloodthirsty, and he spent the next ten minutes talking out loud about his favorite daydream:

How to take down Harry Potter and his entire crew of sycophants.

Penelope did little more than egg him on, with a helpful question or two along the way. Percy, oddball though he was compared to the rest of the family, had as good a brain as any of them not named Bill, and he was darn close to his eldest brother in some areas. So there were some good ideas floating around in there. But once it was all out, that's when Percy started wondering. He got up from his comfortable spot.

"Why this kind of talk all of the sudden? There's no way to get around those parchments, Bill would have made sure of that. And it's not like you anyway. Wait a minute, did they send you here?! They did send you here didn't they!? They're trying trap me into violating something so that they can come and hurt me!" His voice reached a crescendo with that last part.

"Calm down Percy, Bill and company don't even know I'm here." Very true, as it would turn out.

"You're lying, tell me what I going on here!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Her wand had been behind one of the couch cushions, and the spell froze Percy in place, toppling him back to the couch as she leapt up to avoid any collisions.

He just lay there, astounded. The parchment should fry her right now, shouldn't it? But he couldn't voice these thoughts of course, and it didn't matter anyway as Penelope Clearwater morphed into Macel Phideas, Metamorphagus and close associate of Gawain Robards.

"Thanks Percy, I appreciate the information. And you weren't half bad on the couch either, I'm glad you're going into the afterlife with some satisfaction."

With that, she took a throw pillow from the couch and put it over Percy's face. He couldn't resist in any way, and with her weight helping things along, he was soon dead.

Phideas took a minute to catch her breath and compose herself, then took out a cell phone, speed dialing a number.

"Yes, it's me. It's done, just how we discussed." She listened to the voice on the other end for a few seconds.

"Alright, I'll be back this evening, my flight leaves in two hours. We're not moving before Christmas?" More talking.

"Good, I'm on my way. Leave the thing in place? Okay, bye." Anyone of a muggle nature listening in, and who knew in this day and age, would not be getting any relevant information from that conversation.

She calmly walked out of the flat, yelling goodbye to Percy as she did. Percy's flat was in a large building, and no less than four people heard her wish him goodbye.

Not to mention the upstairs and downstairs neighbors who heard the athletic endeavors that they had been engaging in, as Phideas had made sure to put some special Charms in place to amplify the sound.

Two hours later, at Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

It was a late lunch for the Order members, including but not limited to the real Penelope Clearwater. Everyone was chowing down on Kreacher's Mexican feast before the real business began. Orla Quirke, who had never had either Kreacher's food in general or Mexican in particular, was now liking being part of this group.

Even after Bill started questioning her grandfather, whom she adored.

"Attila, did you know about the Wizengamot bills ahead of time?"

Quirke the elder had been expecting a public grilling in front of the group, and had prepared accordingly. He supposed that he couldn't blame them really.

"I heard rumors about the inspections, but I knew definitively about the habeas corpus suspension on Saturday, the day before you found out from Diggory. I had things to do, but I was going to stop by Monday morning."

"Why couldn't you have published an article or editorial about all of it this week, tried to stoke up some outrage?" Bill had stopped short of sending him a message during the week about it, wanting to see how he handled it.

"Because the first bill passed was the habeas corpus bill, and after that I could have been arrested at any time. There is no such thing as freedom of the press when there are no laws enforcing it. We're under martial law now people, technically speaking they didn't even have to pass the Home Wards bill, their broad powers are enough to walk into any home at any time, without cause or pretext. That's how serious it has become right now." Quirke, if he had been willing to share his inner thoughts with anyone, would have still maintained that he did the right thing in joining The Order. His only hindsight quibble with his decision is that perhaps it could have been made a few months, or even weeks, earlier, when his help would have been more beneficial.

Arthur and Molly both were having visions of Aurors waiting for them as they returned to The Burrow. They could see Luna having the same reaction, or so they thought, her face was rather hard to read at the best of times. She was now whispering to Harry.

"Daddy and I will be over tonight, I'll put my foot down and make it happen."

"I'll have Kreacher prepare the last two rooms for you." One of them was not really a bedroom, but still a lot bigger than Luna's room at home, or so he thought, he had only been in it the one time.

Bill was now speaking.

"Fleur and I put our home under Fidelius this morning, so for the time being it cannot be a hub to The Burrow, Hogwarts, and other places as we've been using it. We are going to inform the Ministry department that is handling the inspections that our official address is here at 12. Oliver, Katie, I would suggest that you do the same." He had seen Luna whispering, and correctly assumed what it was about. Katie spoke for her and Oliver.

"Consider it done." Her official residence was with her parents, who were the definition of apolitical, as were Oliver's. But she did not want any attention paid to them for any reason.

"Mum, Dad, would you like some of us to come to The Burrow and help out with security?"

"No thank you Bill, your mother and I don't need any further security. Besides, they'll just write it all down anyway."

Ginny had a question before anything more got said:

"Won't the pureblood brigade go crazy over these bills once they're officially announced? I know that we can't be the only ones in Britain who don't want our homes gone through."

Quirke was looked at now by most people, and he obliged them by responding.

"The Wizengamot members who voted in favor of the bill are tacitly exempted from the searches, and the vote was 23-7 if my informant was correct, the entire body save two are pureblood, the other two are of mixed blood. The rest of them will just assume that whomever Robards is really targeting will be inspected first, and then the rest of them will be forgotten about. There won't be the hue and cry that we in this room are hoping for, and Robards is slightly dreading."

"You mean this house first."

"Oh they'll get to The Burrow Harry, and probably my place as well. But yes, this is the prime target. You could take down every non-Teddy ward right now and they would just trump something up to nail you with. No, you have two choices as I see them: Strike a deal with Robards now…….or wait until they come here, and defend your home."

Ron, typically, had a more offense-like idea:

"Or we could attack first, strike now while they are still getting their plans together."

"Attack where though Ron? Robards' house? The Ministry? The first we can handle, maybe, but whatever wards we have on the place here, he's going to have at least that much on his house. Not because he thinks we're after him, but because he's Minister. And getting him at work is out of the question, they don't let people walk right in any longer, like you lot did a couple of times." Bill wanted this done more than most of them, but he wasn't willing to die to make things go faster.

"So you're saying that we have to play defense."

"Right now, yes. And the problem with striking a deal with Robards is that he doesn't know the extent of our knowledge. And the only way to tell him what we know is to admit to at least two dozen major crimes, all of which would either put us in Azkaban or under his thumb, and I don't know which is worse right now. But before we do anything else, we need to talk about final disposition of Lucius, Draco, and Anson. We've put this off for far too long. I'm not wild about playing any more games with pretending to be Lucius, not right now, not with Robards passing laws against us. I say that we shave his head, just in case, and put a Reducto in his ear. All those opposed?"

No one raised their hands, and no one suggested using Lucius as a Trojan horse to try and kill Robards. It was just too far for many of them to go, even with all the evidence that they had, and those like Ron and Neville knew that they didn't have the votes to carry the day.

"Alright then, we'll do it this afternoon after the meeting. Anyone want to debate on Draco?"

Even McG and Flitwick weren't willing to argue on that one, not after Draco swearing to murder Dumbledore just three years ago. If forced to choose between killing Lucius and killing Draco they probably would have picked the latter. Bill didn't have to look at Ron to know that his brother would be smiling. While it was open to question on who was tasked with the death of Lucius, Draco's killer was a done deal.

"Now the sticky wicket, Anson Parkinson. Two days ago I talked with him again, under Veritaserum, and he repeated that he would find it hard to forgive us for killing his sister. Now he can't harm us, not with the parchment, but there are a myriad of other things he can do to cause us trouble if he wants. And he probably wants. Now as I see it, we have two options: Kill him along with the other two, or attempt to Obliviate him. The second is what I personally would prefer, we can remove the knowledge of our responsibility for her death, along with the twice we asked him about it, and plant something benign like Lucius killing her or some such story. It's not a guarantee, but if it doesn't take, then we can always kill him afterward if we feel there isn't a third option."

Again, there was surprisingly little debate. Anson had not really become one of them, but he was a pleasant enough guy once he relaxed around people, and most of the Order had come to accept him, and in a few instances like him. Neville did have one pertinent question though:

"How will keeping him alive impact his Order membership?"

Bill just shrugged:

"I don't see why he can't remain, assuming that the Obliviation works as we want. He's an asset, he gives us an in to the other side for afterwards." He didn't add that Anson had no interest in being part of the decision making process either, and sometimes it was a plus to have someone only interested in being a soldier, not an officer.

"Will we still let him kill his parents?" Flitwick had always found Bill's and Harry's blasé attitude toward that plan a bit troubling.

"That's between him and them, and none of our collective business unless he tries to enlist us in the plan." He had a sneaking suspicion that that was coming though.

Flitwick still wasn't entirely pleased, but his nod could be construed as a version of 'fair enough'.

Diggory was next, and everyone agreed that he had come through in advance enough to merit his views being heard. That was the consensus, particularly given that he would be bringing in the very well thought of Comptroller with him.

But Minister of Magic Amos Diggory was not met with very much enthusiasm at all, and not one person seemed wild about the idea.

Bill was one of them, but his practicality came to the fore, again:

"Who would be better? Filius, are you adamant that you will not consider the post?"

"I am Bill, I have no interest in leaving Hogwarts, ever." Flitwick was shaking his head vigorously.

Bill knew that he should ask McGonagall, and his father, the same question, but he just could not take the chance that one of them might throw a hat into the ring. The McG mess had more or less been patched up, he didn't want it ripped asunder again. But the idea of her being Minister all but made Bill's skin crawl.

But Minerva noted that he considered Flitwick alone among them as Minister material, after all, Flitwick could replace her as Head of the school if she were to ascend higher in the pecking order. But she held her tongue for now, as Bill was urged to bring Diggory and Leonidas over now.

George and Ron did the fetching, Diggory had been told to leave some time open this afternoon, just in case. There was a very quiet 10 minute period when this could have been an elaborate set up on the part of Diggory and an unknown handler, but Ron and George came back with their guests after that bit of time, and giving the signals to the others that they were not bothered in the process.

Bill motioned for Arthur to introduce the newcomers, as very few of them had ever even laid eyes on Leonidas much less met him, and then Diggory was asked by Bill to take the floor.

"Let's hear what you have to say, Mr. Minister to be."

A less subtle hint had rarely been dropped here lately, and Amos took the ball and ran with it. He spent the next ten minutes outlining what he would do as Minister, what Robards had done that was not to peoples' liking, and how much help he could be bringing Robards down. It was certainly not off the cuff, he all but had note cards in his hand, but it was an impressive display of oratory nonetheless.

Leonidas said little, other than that Diggory had his full support, and he would gladly take whatever drugs they wanted him to take in order to prove that this was not merely a blatant coup attempt, that they really did believe Gawain Robards to be guilty of numerous shady dealings and outright crimes. Diggory nodded along with him that he was willing to do the same.

So they were taken up on those offers, and quickly proved that they were on the team for more or less the right reasons. But that resolve did need to be tested, or so Bill thought.

"We have a small operation going on tonight, and you both need to be a part of it. Witnesses, if you will. There is absolutely no danger involved, but I'm afraid I have to require it of you. It will take an hour at most, and the majority of that is travel time."

Both of them looked sufficiently intrigued to agree, and Bill looked at everyone else.

"The meeting is adjourned until Wednesday night, when Harry is throwing a Christmas Eve party here. Attendance is certainly not mandatory, and no Order business or politics in general will be discussed. The festivities start at 5:00 pm for anyone interested in coming. Amos, Tanner, your wives are of course invited, and Orla, Natalie, if either you have significant others you may bring them as well."

Harry took the floor next:

"What Bill alluded to as far at the witnessing, you all know what that's about. Anyone who would like to join us at the place are welcome to, everyone else, have a great weekend and I hope to see you Wednesday night."

A few cleared off, such as the Brunsdens, and Molly and Arthur. But most stuck around, including Penelope Clearwater, which was just as well. The lot of them took the floo to Hogsmeade, after everyone but the Hogwarts faculty putting Glamour Charms on themselves. Harry was still trying to come up with a way to either disguise their magical signatures while in the house, or somehow come up with some fake ones, for the watchers out there scanning.

Diggory had told Bill during the week that The Three Broomsticks was monitored just as heavily as The Leaky Cauldron, for obvious reasons as it was a great meeting place. Plus, unlike Diagon Alley, there was no floo only hub in Hogsmeade, everyone had to use the pub. And stop for a drink of course, which is why Madam Rosmerta's ancestors fought so hard to be that hub in the first place.

So the Glamours hid who most of them were, but the fact that McG was leading a large group of people in the direction of Hogwarts did not go unnoticed by the Auror on duty in the pub. He tracked them as best he could with a long-range scan before the group got into the open, not allowing for a follower, as during Disillusion one cannot use magic.

They were halfway to the castle when Hermione's cell phone rang. She had been totally amazed at the good reception way out here, until finding out that the muggle village nearest had not one, but two cell towers.

"Hello?" She listened for a tick.

"Oh sure Mareke, he's right here next to me. Bill?" She couldn't remember which Glamour'd person Bill was at the moment.

Bill came over and took the phone, realizing from Hermione's use of his friend's name that this had to be about Percy. Everyone continued walking a bit more slowly, line of sight to Hogwarts was only about two minutes away, and the cell would lose its signal once they got in sight of the castle and all of its magic.

"Mareke?"

Bill listened for five minutes straight, somehow willing himself not to say anything to interrupt her. He snapped his fingers to get everyone's attention, and he motioned for them to stop walking for a moment.

"Alright, I'll tell them then……..no, it should be me, I'm the eldest son and they're going to blame me anyway………right, I'll call you back after I do. Thank you Mareke, I appreciate everything you're doing." He ended the call and handed the phone back to Hermione, who couldn't help but ask:

"What happened to Percy?"

Bill cleared his throat, and everyone gathered a bit closer.

"Percy died about three hours ago. The muggle police are not sure whether his death is from natural causes or not, but they are treating it as a homicide. There were no gunshot wounds, or any other external trauma, or signs of a struggle."

There wasn't much sound coming from the group before that, and there was even less afterward, as they took it in.

"There's one more thing: Penelope, you have been named as a person of interest in Percy's death." Where he had most wanted to interrupt his ex girlfriend had been when she told him of this.

"What!?"

"Multiple witnesses saw you arrive this morning, and leave a couple of hours later. And they spoke of some very loud physical activity going on while you were there." He would not have mentioned that last part to the group if Molly and Arthur had been there.

"I was at work this morning, this can't be happening." She was now having visions of one of Robards' people going through her bathroom at home, looking for a hair to use for Polyjuice. The physical activity part had not even registered.

"It is happening, and it might just be the first salvo. Mareke's brother-in-law works in the Intelligence Unit of the Swiss version of the Home Office, and all deaths of foreign nationals are sent to his office, that's why we have such good information, and so quickly. He's going to delay things a bit, but eventually The Ministry is going to be notified unless he can cover this up. But I'll tell you right now, he won't put his ass on the line for us, I know this guy pretty well from our Egypt days. This is the best we're going to get."

"What if The Ministry already knows Bill?" Neville was looking around as if Aurors might be descending on them at any moment.

"Then Penelope is in a bit of trouble, but nothing that can't be gotten out of if this is handled very carefully. Penelope, please tell me that you weren't alone in the store this morning?"

"No, of course not, it's our second busiest season. There were at least two other people with me at all times, including one of the owners." She relaxed just a bit when she saw Bill give a tight smile in response.

"Then they'll need to vouch for you. Mareke will pull some strings within the Swiss Ministry of Magic, her family is very well respected there, and it's possible that she could quash any attempt at extradition. If that happens, then they can't lay a glove on you, but until we know more, you'll need to stay at 12 for the time being." Bill hated speaking for Harry in such an instance, but he was saved by his friend nodding vigorously as if he was about to say the same thing.

"Why me? I don't understand this."

It was Fleur who had put it together first.

"It was to get around the parchment, Penelope. If Percy thought that he was talking to you, he could talk freely. He knows enough about us that if he talks, we could be in some danger." Bill had told her that the parchment scheme was on the borderline of legal/illegal, and whether that border was crossed depended on how hostile The Ministry was going to be about it.

"She's right, it's the one loophole in the parchment and it's one that I never figured out a way to close. Polyjuice, or even a Metamorph like Tonks, would be able to get around it."

Diggory gave a start upon hearing that last bit.

"I have a Metamorphagus working for me in the DMLE, as one of my investigators." His heart was sinking a little bit. He told them a bit about Macel Phideas, noting that she was not the most industrious worker, was below average in most magical disciplines, but had never called attention to herself in any major way. She was used more for situations that involved interacting with muggles. Most notably for The Order, she had been undercover at the Andromeda Tonks crime scene.

Bill wanted to start screaming, but took a deep breath first.

"Then we are all in big, big trouble, if it was her and she can imitate a real person. Filius, please do some research on those types of powers and find their limits. Hermione, Soren, please go through the library at Hogwarts and the one at home and see what you can do about closing our loophole. Amos, I want you to arrange a meeting with her so that we can either buy her off, or kill her, whichever is easier. Feel free to kill her yourself if the opportunity arises though." He didn't think that his newest member would be willing to go quite that far, and it was proven correct when the man quailed a bit.

"I'll arrange the meeting as soon as possible."

"Good, now let's get on with what we're here for, then I have to go tell Mum and Dad that their favorite son is dead."

The rest of the walk was made in relative silence. Rather than march everyone down to The Chamber of Secrets, Harry led a detail down there to retrieve the Malfoys, it had been agreed quietly between Bill and Harry that Anson's fate would have to be postponed for a bit. The last thing Bill wanted was someone hack from The Ministry, or worse Kingsley, telling his parents that Percy was dead, and indeed had probably been murdered.

Once in McG's office, they were placed on chairs, but not revived. After shaving both of their heads, for future Polyjuice potential, it was time to do the deed. Bill wanted no theatrics here, and surprisingly Ron did not put up a fight about it.

With a nod from his brother, Ron walked up to Draco, put his wand in his ear, and:

"REDUCTO!"

A bit more force than required, and a couple of people had to dodge out of the way as the remnants of the curse came out the other ear.

But Draco Malfoy was no longer among the living.

Charlie was the next to act, as he, Bill, and Harry had hashed this out the night before.

"For Fred………Reducto."

He had put just enough force into the curse to do the job right, and Lucius' breathing stopped immediately.

There was a moment of silence, not out of respect but out of no one wanting to speak next. Bill again took the bull by the horns:

"Neville, Lisa, take Draco's body up to that place we talked about near Aberdeen, and dispose of the body. Harry and Hermione will do the same to Lucius in Wales. I do not want those bodies found, nor any traces of them to be discovered. The law says that sister Malfoy will have to wait 60 days before pressing a claim for disappearance, and we might just need every one of those days. All non-Weasleys are to go home or wherever you want now, and for the love of God look surprised when you're told about Percy's death."

Nods all around, and the two pairs of disposers began policing up the bodies.

"Ginny, Charlie, Ron, George, and Fleur are to come with me now to The Burrow. There's going to be a scene and I need to know now that you're all behind me." He knew that Ron would be, his little brother had wanted Percy dead in the first place, though probably not like this. Charlie and Fleur would be as well, but the real wild cards, sort of, were George and Ginny. George was becoming more of a pacifist by the week, while none of the siblings had been as fond of Percy as Ginny had, even with his manipulation of her to go attack Harry.

But they indicated, both, that there would be a united front with Bill for inevitable screaming match that would erupt in just a few minutes.

After bidding good day to McG and Flitwick, who were settling in for some paperwork, the Weasley siblings, plus spouse, took the floo home, praying that they would be first to bear the news.

They were. Molly and Arthur had stopped in Diagon Alley for a little bit and had only just gotten home themselves. Arthur was more than a little disquieted to see the children all coming back home at once, and was even more so when he looked for Harry and Hermione, who still had hands on the Weasley family clock, and didn't see them. Speaking of the clock, they had not yet spotted it's current situation, something that more than one of the siblings had thought of right before they got there.

Bill motioned for everyone to go outside, still believing The Burrow to be compromised. The lot of them took a short walk, about half a kilometer from the house, just out of sight of it.

"What's going on Bill? This looks serious."

"It is Dad, Mom. Why do you sit down?" He didn't want anyone fainting, and conjured some chairs right there in the woods for them. To no avail.

"Out with it Bill, what's happened?"

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Percy died about four hours ago."

Molly shook her head, as if Bill was telling an unnecessarily cruel joke. But her husband knew that he wouldn't joke about something like this, not with this portion of the Order present. He walked over to his wife, and pulled her into a hug, and the tears began from them both.

"No Arthur, he's lying, he can't be dead." It was muted though, both from her face being on his shoulder and the creeping realization that it just wouldn't work as a joke.

"What would I have to gain by lying about something like that?" It was quietly said, but Bill had not appreciated her calling it a 'lie' rather than a 'mistake'.

Arthur pulled his wife's head closer to his shoulder, both to comfort her, and to hopefully shut her up. He turned his own head to his children, the tears glistening on his face.

"What happened?"

Bill told him what Mareke, whom the Weasley parents had indeed met while visiting Egypt, had told him over the phone.

"And you're sure that this isn't some kind of mistake?" Grasping for straws perhaps, but not an unreasonable question under the circumstances.

"Weasley is not the most common name Dad, it would be extraordinarily unlikely that Dieter would make a mistake of that magnitude."

"And you believe Penelope?"

Who fortunately for all involved, was not here. Bill had anticipated this question, though he had assumed that it would come from Molly, and made sure that she was not coming along.

"Dad, if I so much as tried to slap your face, the parchment would make me suffer. That's how sensitive it is, I had to spend hours modifying it to allow hugs, and other things." Like sex, but he didn't mention this.

Arthur didn't say anything more for a few minutes, and then Molly broke away from him. In more ways than one.

"I suppose that you are going to claim that this is not your fault."

That Bill had known that this was coming did not make it any easier for him to take.

"The thought had occurred to me, yes. I had him hundreds of kilometers away from here, in one of the safest large cities in Europe. His double dealings before we discovered him would have gotten him killed, or worse, long before this. I did him a favor, if anything."

"And now he's dead because of that favor!" Molly clearly did not accept the logic of Bill's argument.

"He is dead because of Gawain Robards, nothing more! Blaming me isn't going to bring your son back. I suppose you blame Harry for Fred, with that kind of logic."

That could have been a very large mistake, bringing up Harry like that. But Bill, sympathy for his grief stricken mother aside, was not in the mood to be browbeaten by her. Arthur rescued him, in a way.

"What do we need to do now? Does his body need to be claimed?" His hand was gripping Molly's arm, their private signal to let him do the talking.

"It does Dad, but not until we are officially notified of his death. What I got from Mareke and Dieter was inside information, and was strictly speaking not supposed to have occurred. I say 'we', I mean you, as undoubtedly you two are the 'to be notified in the event of an emergency' contact names on his immigration papers. So please act surprised when you hear from whomever they send out here." He was praying that it would be a stranger, Kingsley was likely to pick up on things that some functionary wouldn't. So of course Kingsley would volunteer.

One thing had been nagging George for the last 30 minutes, and it finally came to the front of his mind.

"How did this happen so quickly? I mean, what led them to enter his flat to discover he was dead in the first place? This rather smells, if you get my meaning."

"Noise complaints from the tenants below him caused the building's superintendent to go in there, that's how he discovered Percy. The Swiss police are very efficient, Dieter was notified within two hours, with a full report."

"Sounds a bit dodgy, if you ask me."

"I know George, it occurred to me too. The fake Penelope probably helped things along, otherwise it would have been Tuesday maybe before Mareke sent someone over there to check on him." Her reports via owl had told Bill that Percy was never late, and never took a day off or left early.

"They didn't want to wait that long?"

"I don't know. I don't know how much they know about my connections over there. I certainly never told anyone outside the group about them, and my friends over there aren't in my Ministry files. But I would think that they would think that we didn't just turn Percy loose on continental Europe without supervision."

That's what alternately amused and frustrated Bill about this entire Robards situation: Neither side knew how little or how much the other side knew about what was going on in the big picture. He had once commented to Fleur that it was like watching a blind person put together a jigsaw puzzle.

He looked at his mother, who appeared to be torn between kicking him out or acknowledging the fact that all of her living children were under her roof, sort of, for the first time in months. Charlie had done just one dinner here, right after he returned to Britain, and had foresworn any others that didn't have the name Christmas attached to them. The subtle and not-so subtle pleas to return home had irritated him almost to the point of distraction.

Bill tried with his mother again:

"Mum, I know this has been hard for you to hear, and I am truly very sorry about Percy. None of us danced a jig when we found out, I promise."

"Were you ever going to lift his banishment?" She now regretted that she had not put up more of a fight over that.

"I don't know, I don't know what the end of this mess would have brought us. I would like to believe that we would have made some arrangement with Percy, yes." It would have involved a horse trade with Harry somehow, as it required three of the names to agree, and Oliver would do what Harry wanted.

The others were agreeing with that assessment as well, even Ron. In their own minds, they acknowledged it as the price to be paid for the reconciliation of the family.

"Why did Harry not come with you?"

"I felt it best, given how badly you two have gotten along with each other recently. He's disposing of Lucius' body right now, he and Hermione. I'm sure he would have come had I told him not to." He mentally crossed his fingers on that one, Harry was still refusing to even consider a return to The Burrow for Christmas dinner, let alone something like this.

Molly looked like she wanted to argue that point as well, but instead she thought of Percy, and began crying again. There was no more yelling, and on the whole Bill thought that it was going as well as could be expected. Ginny and Ron went over to Molly, as did George. They took over the hugging, and Arthur pulled his two eldest sons aside.

"Bill, do you honestly believe that Robards had Percy killed?"

"I think they data mined Percy for whatever he knew about us, and then killed him to send a message. If not for the Penelope thing, we could have chalked it up to a robbery gone bad, or Percy messing about with someone's girlfriend or wife. No Dad, they wanted us to know that it was deliberate. I wonder if they're going to try to pin the whole thing on Lucius."

Which was exactly what happened. Two hours later, in the middle of dessert, Kingsley and his two security flunkies appeared at the kitchen door. They accepted some peach pie, with thanks, and told them more or less about half the truth of what went on. They inquired about Penelope's whereabouts, in that they were unable to find her at her flat or her parents' estate, and conveyed their sympathy for the Weasley loss.

Kingsley explained that Lucius couldn't be an official suspect, of course, but he was a person of extreme interest in the case, as was Penelope still. No mention was made of habeas corpus, magical inspections, or anything beyond Percy. As they left, Bill took Kingsley for a quick walk aside, out of earshot of the two people he assumed were there to spy on Kingsley for Robards.

"Kingsley, sometime this week we need to have a sit-down conversation."

"About?"

"All of this, and how you and I can help each other navigate through this mess." He hoped it would be obvious that Harry would be there as well.

"You working Christmas Eve?"

"Until noon. My office for lunch at that time?" At least there he wouldn't be arrested.

"I'll bring the Chinese food. See you then."

End Chapter


	45. Going All In

Author's Note: The title of Chapter 44 refers to Draco's murder, which officially make this story A/U, if only slightly. Up until then, nothing I had done put the story out of bounds of the Hallows epilogue, given the time lag between the Battle of Hogwarts and the last scene at the Hogwarts Express. This was done deliberately, and is why such a relatively large story takes place over a somewhat compressed time period. I held off as long as I could, but poor Draco just had to go.

Monday, December 22, 1999

Bill Weasley's office, Gringott's

Noon

Lunch had just begun for Harry and Bill, some Kreacher made sub sandwiches, and Bill started in with what he wanted.

"We need to talk about how far we can go Wednesday with Kingsley."

"I thought we were going to go as far as offer him a spot in a troika with us?"

"I know, and I still think that that's a good idea. What we need to discuss is what we do if and when he turns us down." Bill added the 'when' because he believed that they would be turned down.

"Are you sure that the goblins won't let The Ministry arrest anyone here?" He had never heard of it happening unless the crime had occurred in the bank itself.

"That's the understanding that I have with my supervising goblin. An arrest warrant can be served, 'report to The Ministry at such and such time to answer charges of blah blah blah', like what happened to you with the Patronus thing a few years ago. They can serve one of those personally if they like, I think it happens at least twice a month here. But this is goblin territory, and Aurors are not welcome unless they're banking."

"What will happen to us, with the goblins, if we kill Kingsley?" Harry hoped that Bill realized that he was just throwing out ideas here.

"They will be very pissed if they find out, and they'll find out. Any flack at all from it, and I'll be fired, and you will have used up your last chit with them. Fleur would probably be let go too, on general principles. Besides which, Kingsley will undoubtedly have told his boss and many other people about the meeting, and there will be many, many questions asked of us if he does not return from it. No, he leaves here alive and untouched."

"Obliviation?"

"He has a strong mind, but I think we could get rid of a couple of minutes of memory if we do it just right. That's the only way we mess with him. You want to know the scenario I'm really scared of?"

"Let me guess, if he says: Let me think it over and get back to you."

"Right in one mate. Then we're in a heap 'o trouble."

"Maybe not, maybe it would goad Robards into having it out with us once and for all. Isn't that what we always said we wanted, or even needed?"

"Yes it is, and it's getting to be time sure enough. But we want to control the battlefield if at all possible. That's why I don't want to try anything at The Ministry or his house, or even in Diagon Alley."

"Is The Burrow defensible?"

"Not really, not if they bring enough Aurors, it would be an open field kind of conflict and we don't have the numbers for that. And that brings us to another problem. Will you at least put in an appearance there on Christmas Day?" Trading one battle scenario for another.

"Oh like you want to go over there." Harry knew that he would have to though, and Bill helped him by pointing out why.

"I did it Saturday night and nothing bad happened, no tornados or raining down of frogs. Mum needs all the support she can get right now, and like it or not, you are part of the family whether she admits it or not. I'm not saying that you have to stay all day, but a two hour visit won't kill you. The woman just lost a son, and even if it was her least favorite rather than her most favorite, she still is going to need all of the emotional support that we can give her." Of course Bill was the least favorite son at present, so he knew what he was talking about.

Molly and Arthur were currently in Zurich picking up Percy's body. The return trip would be their first via muggle airplane, since the Swiss authorities were very precise with their paperwork, and the body had to be verified as getting on the plane. And it would have looked very odd if they had not gotten on with it.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll go there as long as she doesn't start in on me. But if she does Bill? All bets are off, you understand me?"

"Look, Dad will keep her in line." He believed Harry though, and resolved to have a short chat with said father during Wednesday night's party, which the two elder Weasleys had already said that they were going to attend.

"Yeah, right, you always were the funny one. No guarantees about Hermione though, and I won't beg her to go either." He knew that she would put in the same appearance, but he wanted to make the point to Bill anyway.

"You going to her place on Christmas Day?"

"In the morning, yeah. The parents want to spend more time with Teddy, get to know him."

"Their unofficial grandchild in a way."

"They're starting to look at him more that way, especially since real grandchildren are a few years away."

"Really?" Bill knew that Hermione and Teddy got along, but he just couldn't visualize her pregnant, or having children for some reason.

"Hermione said that she doesn't want to be in class while pregnant, so it might be awhile if she goes for her doctorate."

"So everything is fine there, with her?"

"What have you noticed?" Since Bill was living with them for the time being, Harry wanted to know what the man had observed.

"I've noticed that she seems more at peace with what is going on than she used to be, and that she has more faith in your decision making than ever before. We all do, that's why you're the real leader of us, no matter what my title is. I hate to say this, and maybe I'm not even the first: That year of no sleep? It was the best thing that could have happened to you. It changed you, gave you perspective. It probably wasn't too good for you and Ginny of course, so please don't tell her I said this."

"Ha ha, more jokes."

"How has she been since she moved in?"

"She's fine, there haven't been any blowups, or even any comments." It helped that Hermione and Ginny averaged one sentence of conversation with each other per day.

Bill took a deep breath:

"Any signs that she might be pulling a Pansy and trying to seduce you?"

Harry started laughing, even though it had eventually occurred to him too that it might be part of the Ginny playbook.

"No, of course not. And I would be hip to it anyway, after all that. I learned some valuable lessons from Mrs. Malfoy the younger."

"Such as?"

"When one of your enemies tries to become your friend, always look a little deeper into than they want you to."

"Does that apply to Diggory, and maybe Kingsley."

"It did to Amos, sure. I had to make sure that he did not still blame for the death of his son." Harry's two questions had been very pointed, though done with an apologetic look at the time.

"I doubt he objected. He took that loss so hard though, it's like he still hasn't recovered from it. Then I think of Dad, who has now lost two sons, and might lose four more the way things are going."

"Your dad has all of you, you all had to share his love, while Cedric got all of Amos'. It's one of those things where neither scenario is perfect."

"You think that if there had been no Dudley, your lot would have been better with the Dursleys?" Bill rarely brought up the Dursleys, but he thought it germane to the conversation that they were having now.

"I do yeah, it might have been a lot better at first. Then I would have shown signs of magic and who knows what would have happened."

"Where are they now, do you know?"

"I do know, last month I hired a muggle private investigator to find them."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Bill knew that he shouldn't be surprised, but he still was.

"I told Hermione, but I wanted to keep it on the quiet, just in case people thought I was doing it so that I could get revenge on them."

"And you don't?"

"Not right now, no. And they're living in Leeds, apparently Vernon had an old school chum who set him up with a job, and somehow scammed Dudley into the local university, where his marks are adequate, but not measurably bad."

"And Petunia?" Of all the Dursleys, Bill hated her the most, yet at the same time felt vastly sorry for her.

"A lot more calm than she used to be, or so my investigator said. Me not being there is the prime reason why that is, I'm sure."

"Undoubtedly. You're really not going to do anything with that information other than satisfy your curiosity? I doubt many would blame you, after the stories you've told us."

"No, curiosity was enough for now. But it's better to know than not to know."

"Leeds eh? Certainly bigger than Little Whinging……a name that still cracks me up by the way."

"I know, doesn't it make you want to break out a map and find out where Big Whinging is?"

That cracked the two of them up, and they went back to their food and idle chitchat for awhile.

"You know Bill, I had this weird dream the other night."

"How weird?"

"It goes back to right after Dumbledore told me about the Prophecy, and I trashed his office. In the dream I engineered an escape from Privet Drive, you were very helpful by the way, and wound up in the U.S, at one of the schools there. It was so vivid, like I was really doing it."

"Was it a good dream or a bad dream?" Weird could be either one really.

"It was pretty good for the most part, it seemed to last all night. I made friends with some Americans, and had a good couple of years, rather than the shite ones I wound up having. No Snape and his hatred, no Dumbledore and his machinations. It's enough to make me wish I'd thought of something like that when it really happened." He told Bill a few more details.

"Just don't tell Hermione about all of that."

Harry laughed.

"Not a problem, it just goes to show the road not traveled I guess."

Bill now knew that he was going to win his bet with Fleur, that Harry was going to emigrate by his next birthday. But he said nothing about it to his friend, and they went back to their food. Enough decisions had been made this day, the real test was going to be Wednesday.

Later on in the day, Flitwick reported back on a couple of enchantments that would prevent a Metamorphagus from entering a specific room or house, if the spell was placed in just the right area and with the right power. It would not harm the person, it would merely stop them dead in their tracks. The key was the special magic within the Metamorph him/herself, and the text it was found in assured its readers that it was foolproof.

After a hurried call to Rachel Brunsden, Order member and Medi-witch, and learning that any Metamorph ability residing in Teddy would be totally dormant and not set off any spells, Harry placed the enchantment on the front door of 12, as well as on the floo. A Teddy test proved that they could floo in and out with him, so one potential disaster was averted. Arthur, surprisingly reluctantly though he did, agreed to do the same on The Burrow, as did Hermione, totally willingly, on her parents' house. Because of the Kingsley meeting on Christmas Eve day, Bill put the enchantment on his office door, just to make sure that Macel Phideas, whom Amos Diggory had not been able to pin down for a meeting, did not show at the wrong meeting instead.

Wednesday, December 24, 1999

Bill Weasley's office, Gringott's

12:30 pm

Kingsley appeared right on time, with enough Chinese food to feed a small army, and not just himself, Fleur, Bill, and Harry, though each person supplied their own drinks. There were no security flunkies, he had told them to go home to their wives, or so he explained to the other three.

"Because if I don't appear at The Ministry exactly one hour from now, they are going to know just where to find me, right guys?"

"Of course." Fleur.

"Right here." Harry.

"I was planning for this meeting to be 55 minutes anyway." Bill said this with a chuckle, that was returned by Kingsley as they all dug in. But it was duly noted that he wanted to be out of there before any Polyjuice would expire.

"So guys, what am I doing here? One supposes that you have an offer for me, or at the very least some information."

Bill liked the directness of that approach, and started off with something very direct:

"Okay, since you put it that way. The three of us, on behalf of our entire group, would like you to rejoin The Order of the Phoenix."

Kingsley smiled at them, he liked the opening gambit. Bold, honest, but with a lot of hidden layers in there as well.

"I think my current employers would have a problem with that. All Department of Magical Law Enforcement employees are forbidden to join The Order, under pain of termination." That was not an official, written rule, just common knowledge within the DMLE.

"That doesn't apply to Neville and Lisa? They do draw salaries from the DMLE." Barely.

"They're grandfathered in, in no small part to appease the Longbottom family, a powerful one that The Minister does not want to antagonize if at all possible."

"So the answer is no? You haven't even asked us the terms yet."

"No I have not, but as I said, it would be frowned upon. Besides, what motive would I have to join? I'm already working against the Malfoys just like you are, and getting paid a handsome government salary to boot, whereas you lot are doing this for free in your spare time. Odd hobby it is, but I can understand it." Given that he used to do it himself.

"There are other enemies besides the Malfoys."

"Is any of this being recorded?" Kingsley felt that he had to ask, just for the record.

"Of course not, and you have our collective pledge not to use anything you say against you via pensieve." Bill hoped that he was speaking for Harry right now.

"Alright then. Other enemies means Gawain Robards, am I right?"

"Yes."

And there it was, the rubicon across River Kingsley was now crossed.

"What possible evidence could you have? I have never met a more careful man than The Minister, he practically wrote the Auror handbook on counter-intelligence. There can't be any loose ends for you to find, even if he is guilty." He was sure that this was a bluff, and his tone of voice was one of mild irritation.

Bill wanted nothing more than to throw Amos Diggory and Tanner Leonidas in his friend's face right now, but he ultimately chose not to. It would certainly teach Kingsley a thing or two about Robards' supposed counter-intelligence gifts though.

"When was the last time you talked to Lucius Malfoy?"

"Over a month ago, right before the wedding. He's dropped out of sight, probably because of the Yaxley burning." That case was still open, and probably would be for a long time unless someone confessed. Speaking of confessions:

"He confessed to us that Gawain Robards is the leader of The True Voice, and that he, Lucius, took all of his major orders from your wonderful boss." Bill loved the all too brief look of shock on Kingsley's face.

"He was lying, Robards would not be that sloppy." He couldn't believe that Bill was being so obvious.

"He was under Veritaserum, and before you go on about a bad batch, we asked him more than once during many sessions, and you know who our Potions Master is." Slughorn was considered by the Potions community to be something of a lazy ass when it came to productivity, but the work he did do was considered top drawer.

"Even if I am to take your word for this, which I'm not right now, for all you know Robards could have been playing Lucius."

"He had Andromeda Tonks murdered!" Harry knew that Kingsley was right to be skeptical, but he just couldn't help himself.

"Again, according to you."

"What about according to him? What is Robards saying about us?"

"You really expect me to tell you that? You're more naïve than I thought. Look, is Gawain Robards a cold blooded customer? You bet your asses he is, I fully acknowledge it. But he is not the next incarnation of Voldemort, nor does he want to be even if he had the magical power for it. Need I remind you that he is already Minister? He has power already. everything after that is merely a matter of degrees." He carefully avoided mention of Fudge, and was surprised when his 'opponents' did too.

"And the home inspections? No habeas corpus?"

"How the hell do you know about those? That's top secret information." He was faking outrage and waiting to see if they would admit to Quirke being in The Order. Harry's August deal with Robards required him to inform The Minister of all Order members, but Kingsley never thought that Harry would keep his end of the bargain.

Harry wasn't quite so easy to fool though:

"None of your business, but we know that the inspection thing targets my house. Why else would it come up? Your boss is targeting me, and has been for months." He couldn't believe that Kingsley was in such a state of denial.

"Not true, it's aimed at the Malfoys if anything. And what are you trying so desperately to hide Harry? What's in Number 12 Grimmauld Place that you don't want us to see?" He assumed some heavy duty wards, but couldn't imagine anything beyond the pale going on there.

"Tons of things, just like you wouldn't want me waltzing through your home. Every magical person has a higher need for privacy than your average muggle. Plus, what's to stop you lot from placing some Charms of your own once you're there? Eh? You know that would happen to my place, which I assume is being inspected first. Oh, you will say that any Charms placed can be worked around, and all that blather, but you want to invade my home and make it no longer my home. Well that ain't happening."

Kingsley's calm, which had wavered for a few moments just now, was fully back in place:

"Yes Harry, it will. You all know that you're not going to go to jail for some stupid principle. It is not a setup to try and trap you into anything. You just sit tight, and it will be over in 10 minutes."

"If I had any faith that this might be on the up and up, I would think about it. But if you honestly think that I'm not the target here, then I don't know what more I can tell you." Harry was now fully baffled at what he considered to be thick headed intransigence.

"Let me talk to Lucius Malfoy, I assume that you still have him kept somewhere."

Bill answered him:

"Not any longer. He is not in our charge as of this moment."

"And Draco and Pansy? Neither of them have been seen recently." He had figured this was all a bluff, and this confirmed it for him.

"Of course they haven't been seen recently, they're supposed to be plotting a Ministry overthrow, even though we know that's not what they're doing."

"So you killed them too eh? How large is your body count? Counting the Yaxley burning which I know you lot had your hands in, how many? Did Voldemort's reach that high?"

Harry flinched in his chair, and Fleur's hand on his wand arm was the only thing that prevented him from going for it. His verbal response was flat and calm though:

"You have a lot of balls, comparing us to them. Be careful that you don't lose those balls at some point, with rash statements like that."

"Guys, you can't keep acting like vigilantes! He is not Fudge or Voldemort, you have no cause to go against him! No good cause anyway." The threat is what set Kingsley off, as he was very aware that he was a dead man if Harry lost his grip on the famous Potter temper of his.

"We have no choice here! He's using us to prop himself up, to gain more power. Taking down The Boy Who Lived, that will go a long way toward consolidating his power base won't it? Make the most famous Wizard in the world understand that he is not above the law."

"Well that's how you lot have been acting in the last few months. Look, I know that you're thinking that I am some kind of hypocrite for arguing against the Order when I was a member of it for years myself. But this situation is very, very different. The Order is not needed any longer, the Ministry and my Aurors can handle things now, when before they could not."

Fleur knew that in this situation, with her husband and close friend firing away, she should be the voice of reason:

"Kingsley my friend, you seem to have an explanation for the inspections, even if we do not personally agree with it. What is your explanation for the suspension of the habeas corpus?"

Kingsley was about to chomp on a shrimp roll, and continued on to it, to buy himself a second.

"There is no defense of that, not really. It was designed by the Wizengamot to help The Ministry deal with the Malfoy threat, after the Yaxley burning. And yes, it's to assist us for the inevitable resistance to the inspections."

"Your boys went too far there, you know that right?"

"The Minister, and the Wizengamot members under his influence, felt it better to err on the side of caution."

Something clicked into place for Bill just then.

"Hang on a second…….suspension of habeas corpus wasn't aimed at The Order at all. It was aimed squarely at The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler. You're going to use the suspension to shut them up, or at least to threaten to."

"You're in contact with both publishers, you tell me." Kingsley had to give Bill credit though, his reason was the one most talked about by those in the know.

"We don't have to tell you anything, because you already know. This is a revocation of the freedom of the press that our society has always had, except when Voldemort was in power."

"Careful there Bill, I don't like you comparing him to Voldemort anymore than you like me doing it to you."

"If the shoe fits."

"Where are the Malfoys?"

"Gone Kingsley, long gone."

"You killed them."

"I'm not about to admit to anything, given the attitude that you're presenting." Bill now knew that killing Lucius was one of the stupidest things he had done in recent months, if not THE stupidest. But he had honestly not thought it would take so much for Kingsley to be convinced. And now it looked like he wouldn't be convinced at all.

"You just don't want to answer for what you've done. Giving Veritaserum alone, without prior approval, is a punishable offense."

Fleur's fingers were now moving, without her realizing it, and she would later tell the boys that they had committed at least 50 Veritaserum offenses over the last five months.

"I said nothing under oath, and this isn't the muggle world where lying to a copper is a crime. Are you turning us down?" He saw no reason to drag this on any further.

"Yes, I am turning you down. You have nothing on Gawain Robards but your own paranoia, and I want no part of it." He got up to leave, using his wand to vanish his empty food cartons.

"Just answer me one question before you do." Bill quickly decided that Obliviation would be too dangerous right now.

"I'm listening."

"Are you his anointed successor?"

This was not the first time that Kingsley had been asked this particular question.

"Gawain Robards is only 44 years old, and I'm older than that. He would have to die or resign in order for me to take over, and neither of those things are going to happen for a good long while."

That didn't really answer the question, but Bill took the point.

"Well then, I guess we'll see you come inspection time. You are going to be there personally, aren't you?"

"You will find out, I suppose. Thank you for your time, this meeting has been most educational." He walked out the door, not using the floo, the same as the way he had come in. With every step, he wondered if he was going to get a curse in the back. But he left unharmed, though the shrimp rolls would later force him to a few toilet trips.

"Well that went swimmingly." Harry was now suddenly very tired.

"Let's get back to 12, they're coming very soon." Bill was already gathering papers from his desk, he was not due back to work until next Monday.

"Okay, here's a thought: Let's not be there when they get there. Let's grab our people and hightail it to France for the holiday season." Harry didn't really want to leave though, but he thought that the idea should be put out there. Surely some Order members would want to hit the road.

"And come back when? When they have your house, and likely Hogwarts totally secured for them? Tell me little brother, honestly: How much confidence do you have in your security wards?"

Harry took a few seconds to ponder.

"Exceeds Expectations level, nothing higher, since we've never gotten around to doing a real drill on it."

"Well they're coming, and if we're lucky it will be tonight."

"Tonight? Because of everyone being there? Remember, the Grangers and Teddy will be there too, and they can't defend themselves."

"I have something at the house for that, I picked it up after the planned hit on Hermione. I was going to tell you about it, but it really just slipped my mind. Now let's get going, we have to get to the shop and warn them." WWW was open until 4:00 pm, for any last minute Christmas shoppers.

"We had better make sure everyone is accounted for, just in case."

Forward to 4:45 pm

Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic.

Interrogation Room B

Gawain Robards and Senior Auror Trenton Lee were the only Ministry people in the room, standing in front of their two prisoners, who were bound and gagged. They had been arrested only minutes before, at their home, along with their three children, who were in another room being looked after.

The prisoners were Neil and Rachel Brunsden.

Robards started:

"We have not been formally introduced, but no doubt you know who I am: Gawain Robards, Minister of Magic. Now, you both know in a fashion of why you are here, and I'm going to tell you the whole reason: We want Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and you are going to give it to us. I know that you two are members of The Order of the Phoenix, and that you have signed a confidentiality parchment that precludes you from blabbing about Order secrets to us. This was very clever, by the way. Now, according to Percy Weasley, before his unfortunate demise, no one has ever tested the parchment before. Well let me tell you, one of you will in a few minutes. You will be given Veritaserum and be asked an obvious Order related question, after which we will see what happens. You never know, it could all be one gigantic bluff, Bill Weasley does not lack for cleverness after all. But after that, you will walk into Number 12 Grimmauld Place with us behind you. If you do not do so, I will take your children away from you, and you will never get them back. If you are lucky, that is all I will do to them."

He took a breath, and also took in the wide eyes of his 'guests'.

"Now, all you have to do is go to your party, the one that Harry Potter is having. None of them are going to blame you for doing this, none. You think Harry wouldn't roll over on you if we had Teddy Lupin prisoner?"

In fact he thought that Harry would invade the Ministry and start murdering people by the cartload until Teddy was released, but Gawain knew that these two were reluctant Order members at best, and didn't have Harry's resolve, ruthlessness, or power.

"There is no need to nod your heads yes or no, because all four of us know what you're going to say. You are not going to put some people you barely know ahead of the well being of your children are you?" He motioned for Trenton Lee to remove Neil's gag.

"Now Mr. Brunsden, I need you to open wide, and take in the three drops of Veritaserum that my associate is going to give you. I naturally assumed that you would rather take it than have your wife do it, am I right?"

"What's going to happen to us, afterward?"

Robards and Lee both smiled, and the latter answered.

"You'll go home, and not be prosecuted for what I can't imagine are many crimes. Something tells us that you are not part of the operational arm of your little organization. Guilty knowledge is all you have, and that's nothing that can't be dealt with. And we'll protect you from Potter and his people."

"What will happen to them?" Neil knew now that it was in his best interests that Harry and Bill be put in Azkaban for a long time.

"That depends on what they confess to, doesn't it? But you will not spend another hour in prison, as long as you lead us into that party."

Lee, without further warning, took the Veritaserum and forced Neil Brunsden to swallow it. After waiting a moment for it to take effect:

"Are you a member of the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Y………."

Brunsden slumped unconscious after just the barest hint of a 'y' coming out of his mouth. Lee and Robards spent the next 10 minutes trying to wake him up, to no avail.

"Very, very interesting Trenton. Non-painful, and non-lethal, though I would think that our friend will wake up with a massive headache. I wonder when that will be. Now, Rachel. Obviously we can't make you talk under Veritaserum, or our only leverage will disappear. So you are now going to take us to the party, with your gag firmly in place, so that you cannot spout a truth about your friends and render yourself like your loving husband over there. We'll be back in a moment."

The two of them stepped outside the room, and started walking to the main holding area, where all of Auror Command, over 50 men and women, were waiting for them.

"Have one of the support staff keep an eye on Neil Brunsden, personally. I want to know exactly when he wakes up."

"Are we really letting the two of them go?"

"Of course, if Potter manages to get himself out of our trap, he will take care of them for us. He is not the most forgiving type you know."

"It will be a relief to finally have him out of the way for good."

"They have to know that we're coming though Trenton, after their chat with Kingsley today. That gives them a tactical advantage, even if we can get inside the house easily."

"It's a good thing that he believed in you, isn't it."

Kingsley had reported to Robards within 15 minutes of leaving the meeting with Bill, Harry, and Fleur. Unlike those three, he had recorded the meeting, and the recording had led to the arrests of the Brunsdens.

"Yes, and I can't believe that they didn't produce Lucius for him to talk to, very sloppy. It is always a preference to deal with amateurs whenever possible."

They had now arrived in the staging area, where every Auror, plus Macel Phideas and a few other assorted personnel, were waiting for them. Kingsley was at their head, as Robards addressed them all:

"Alright everyone, listen up. Tonight's target is Number 12 Grimmauld Place, London. It is the residence of Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Theodore Lupin, along with as many of the Weasley siblings as they have bedrooms for. I want to be clear that we are going there to arrest only, but if a Killing Curse comes your way, or any other curse that you feel is life threatening, you may respond in kind. Anyone in that house is to be arrested, with the obvious exception of Theodore Lupin, who is not to be harmed in any way. Anyone who does so, will get the same from me, only one hundred fold. He is only a child with no apparent magical, Metamorph, or werewolf powers as of yet. Once everyone is in custody, a complete inventory of the house will be made, room by room. That means all physical possessions, and magical wards are to be documented, but only the wards are to be removed. Kingsley:"

"You should go in there assuming that there are booby traps around every corner, Harry is nothing if not sneaky, and his traps will harm those not ready for them. You all have my schematic of the house, with locations of every room, and the dimensions if I have been in there. It has been three years since I was in there, but the layout cannot have changed too much over that time, so you can consider this the best version you are likely to get. We have the advantage in numbers, their advantage is positional. Now one thing must be made clear: Every member of the Order is capable in some way, otherwise they would not be needed by Harry and Bill. But not all of them can fight. Horace Slughorn, Penelope Clearwater, Giles Keenan, just to name three, are not likely to give you too many problems. So if you are facing them, get it over with quickly and move on to a more high rated target. It will require more than a few of us to take out Harry Potter, Soren Bender, and Fleur Weasley, they are to be considered your most dangerous foes, their combat skills are equal or better than that of most anyone here."

There was a question from Wittal Magoo, a fifth year Auror, as there were murmurs of skepticism about whether Harry and Fleur, a Quidditch player and a banker, were their equals in combat.

"Will Soren really fight against us sir? She was one of us not that long ago."

"Wittal, I hope that she chooses not to. But we must be prepared as though she is. She is not an informant for us, and joined them knowing that something like this could happen. Soren, however much we like her, and I do, made her bed. Any further questions?"

There were none, and Trenton Lee went back to retrieve Rachel Brunsden. Kingsley journeyed to the office of the Obliviation squad, half of which was already en route to Grimmuald Place. The other half were detailed to follow at the receipt of a call, just in case. He made sure that they were ready, and then went back to his own troops.

"Alright then, get your portkeys ready, they will take us to just over one kilometer of the target, we will walk from that point. Do nothing to attract muggle attention until we get in range of the house itself. Once there, Rachel Brunsden will lead us to the front door. We need not be invited in, once she has given it to us. Are you ready? Then let's go!"

A dozen portkeys were activated within the next minute, sending 57 people to the area near Harry's house.

Meanwhile, the party was just getting into full swing, as pretty much every Order member was there, aside from Tanner Leonidas, who was legitimately out of the country visiting his wife's relatives in Ireland. Orla Quirke and Natalie McDonald had declined to bring their boyfriends, not wanting people to have to watch what they said around them, and the parents Granger were already on the parchment because of the Pansy business.

Bill had meant what he said though, about no politics or Order talk, and people were taking him at his word. Some key people had been briefed ahead of time, as Bill was still convinced that they would have visitors.

Harry was in the middle of some Quidditch talk with Orla and Natalie, when Bill came up to them.

"Harry, did Neil and Rachel arrive yet?"

"No, I'm not even sure that they're coming. They don't really seem to enjoy our gatherings that much."

Natalie and Orla, who were becoming fast friends after barely knowing each other for 6 ½ years, both had incredulous looks on their faces at someone not wanting to sample Kreacher's food and hang out with such an eclectic group of people.

"They could be aiming to be fashionably late, you never know."

Bill walked off, leaving the other three to resume their Quidditch chat. He sought out Charlie, who was getting some cheese dip from a large bowl in the main living room. Bill was relieved that he was alone, he didn't want a crowd of people coming along, or even knowing what they were about to do.

"Come with me, I want to check something out."

"Okay, let me put this down." Charlie assumed that mineral water and chip and dip wouldn't be too useful on whatever mission bill had in mind.

They walked in the direction of the front door, and Bill stopped once they got there.

"Get your wand out, and as soon as I open the door, do as wide a scan as you can get away with. Do yours from the middle to the left, I'll do mine from the middle to the right."

"What are you expecting to find?"

"Just the two people who were across the street two hours ago, if we're very, very lucky. On my mark……three………two……one…….go."

Bill whipped the door open, and the two of them pointed their wands and did their scan. The door was only open for 10 seconds.

Bill found nothing except the two watchers across the road.

Charlie's wand found nothing in his first sweep, but the return trip yielded a dozen magical signatures, a third doubled that total. He couldn't see any specific faces though, so he did not see Rachel Brunsden, gag firmly in place, leading the way.

"They're here, close the door!"

Bill slammed the door shut, and put every Locking Charm he could think of on it. While he was doing this, Charlie raced into the main living room, where roughly half the people were.

"We've got company!"

It was just then that Harry's Alarm Charms, placed in the middle of the scan area, started going haywire.

End Chapter


	46. Get Out of My House

Author's Note: What happens in the coming chapter is no secret. I am using The Harry Potter Lexicon's floor plan for Number 12 Grimmauld Place as my guide, and what they don't mention, I will invent to suit my narrative purposes. But if you, my dear readers, would like to put their floor plan descriptions up another window/tab, you might find it to be beneficial.

December 24, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

5:30 pm

Charlie raced into the main living room, where roughly half the people were.

"We've got company!"

It was just then that Harry's Alarm Charms, placed in the middle of the scan area, started going haywire. They were placed in two strategic areas of the neighborhood, where Harry and Neville had decided that the watchers would not be traveling. But they were close enough to make sure that no strays were caught up in in, and far enough away to give at least a little warning.

Now, with everyone rushing into the living room, Harry raised his voice.

"They're coming in, and we have two or three minutes at most! If you do not intend to fight, stay close enough to the front door as to not get damaged by their entrance, and then surrender, we will spare no one to protect you. Everyone who lives here, go to your own bedrooms and take defensive positions! If you don't live here, go with someone who does! NOW!"

Weasleys and Lovegoods began scattering. Luna, her father, and Penelope Clearwater made for the basement, which Luna privately thought was the most defensible position in the entire house. Slughorn went with them, he was willing to defend Harry's wine cellar to the……….well death was a bit extreme, but was intending to station himself there.

George, Ron, and Ginny went to their bedrooms on the second floor as ordered, with Molly, Arthur, and Giles Keenan going with them respectively. Neville and Lisa took Attila Quirke along with them to Neville's third floor room, while Charlie shooed Natalie and Orla off to his own room on the third floor, though he would not be going with them. Oliver and Katie went to the master bedroom on the top floor, which was Harry's and Hermione's room. Everything else on the second and third floors were storage rooms and/or offices, all of which would be warded but unoccupied.

What to do about Paul and Renee Granger? And most importantly, Teddy. Bill had the solution there, as he had told Harry earlier in the day. He grabbed the three of them, carrying Teddy as he went, and ran up to Teddy's room, which was now on the top floor after the lad accumulated a few too many toys. He was in Regulus' old room, right next to Harry's, and Bill was cursing himself that he didn't think to have Oliver and Katie do this, they were next door. Bill laid Teddy on the bed, and:

"Forgive me Teddy: Stupefy." He put just barely any power in the spell, but it was enough to knock him out, the last thing they needed was a Teddy distraction. He ran to the closet, and reached up to the top shelf, pulling something down.

It was a double barreled shotgun, fully loaded, with another box of ammunition. He threw all of it to Paul Granger.

"Harry said that you were in the Army, you should know how to use that."

"I was a paratrooper, I can handle a weapon." He looked carefully at the shotgun, a nice model that Bill had procured through a goblin contact the week before.

"Good, this is the last place they'll get to, we'll keep them off you for as long as we can. Good luck."

Bill sprinted back downstairs, throwing a Locking Charm on the door. It was more to prevent the Grangers from doing something stupid like surrendering than stopping anyone from getting inside, but he didn't have time to tell them this. The trip had taken two minutes, and as soon as he got back, Charlie looked darkly at him.

"They're almost at the door, we figure 50 at minimum."

Those left were Harry, Hermione, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Flitwick, and McGonagall. Bender had stationed herself in the kitchen, dragging Amos Diggory and his wife along with her. For security reasons, Harry had removed the back door, there was nothing more than a brick wall between the kitchen and the outside.

No one had chosen surrender.

Harry wasn't exactly 'left', as he was frantically running from room to room, activating the defensive wards that he had been putting in place for the last few months. The ones on each room were tied to a hub near the door, only Harry could activate the hub or deactivate it. The Charm cocktails, as Harry called it, were all of different mixes, so that any invaders would not be able to simply use one method for all of the rooms. Right now he was more grateful than ever for Clive's marathon practices, which kept him in just good enough shape to do all of this running.

The entire process had taken Harry roughly 105 hours to complete over the months, most from doing the research, and right now more than ever he was grateful that Quidditch was five hours of work per day, tops.

He got to the others just as the pounding on the door started. There was one thing nagging at the back of his mind, and it finally formed coherently.

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Yes Master?"

"This house is about to be attacked, you will go to Master Teddy's room and guard him with your life. Kill any intruder who even lays a finger on him. Am I understood?"

"Of course Master, it will be done." Teddy was probably the one person in the house that Kreacher would risk his skin for, though he did have a fondness for Harry himself.

"Good, now go."

CRACK!

Harry just hoped that the crotchety little fellow didn't see the parents Granger as intruders.

Meanwhile, outside of the front door, the Aurors were lined up, ready to go in. They had 50 people in the assault team, led by Senior Auror Airy Masterson, who was considered to be the best one-on-one fighter in Auror Command. He was a Robards protégé from way back, and was fully with 'the program', as it were. The rest of the Ministry force was securing the back of the house, as well as the houses of Numbers 11 and 13, and the roof. There would be no escaping, teams in place ahead of time had put a blanket of anti-Apparition and anti-portkey wards around the house, and the floo connection had been disabled right after the bulk of the Ministry forces had left the base, with Bill's contact being arrested in the bargain.

Rachel Brunsden, knowing that the lives of her children were hanging in the balance, was using every wand trick she knew to blast through the door of Harry's house. The door was heavily reinforced, as were the areas surrounding it, Harry had used the Hogwarts front doors as his model there. The effort was that much harder because she could not verbalize her spells, the gag was not going anywhere.

But Rachel got through after about three minutes, finally using a brace of Avada Kedavras to batter her way in. She slumped to the ground, totally spent, as Masterson waved his men forward. But first he stopped at what remained of the entrance. He put his wand to his throat, and everyone in the house, save the unconscious Teddy, could hear him. Or so he thought.

"This is the Ministry of Magic, everyone in this house is to lay down their wands and assemble in the living room. If you resist in any way, you will be arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason. You have ten seconds."

The seconds ticked away, as many of the Aurors hoped upon hope that this would go smoothly. Most of them had been involved in The Battle of Hogwarts, but they knew that most of the Order had been there as well. Masterson silently counted down to zero, and then added two more seconds for good measure. But he got nothing for his trouble, though it did not even occur to him that his message had not gotten through at all.

He waved two of his troops forward, significantly they were two men that he thought little of skills-wise, and disliked on top of that. They would be the cannon fodder, and what's more, they knew it. So they walked carefully forward, and got two meters inside the doorway, when:

"WHUMP!" Down goes Roger Manning.

"WHUMP!" Likewise for Sean Coiro.

Two Concussion Curses slammed into them, knocking the two into each other, and out cold. They weren't getting off quite that easily though, as Masterson revived them with his wand, and ordered them to keep moving forward. If nothing else this was an example to all Aurors present that being on the shit list was not a desirable place to reside.

They looked at him like they wanted to kill him, but a wave of a few wands at them compelled them to go towards Harry and company. They inched forward, straining to hear anything at all from the drawing room, which was the first room they would get to. They heard nothing though.

This was due to a simple Silencing Barrier placed on the entrance to the drawing room, which was empty anyway, it was so ornate and old fashioned that Harry didn't like entertaining in there. It was also riddled with more booby traps per square meter than any room in the house. Or any room in magical Great Britain.

On the other side of the drawing room, in the 'food room', as Charlie had taken to calling it, the Order people waited. No one was doing scans, on either side, because Harry had put a Shroud Charm in each of the ward cocktails. That didn't stop speculation though:

"At best we have a two to one disadvantage, if not a little more. But we control the terrain, that's good." Bill was not sounding nervous, but not really that calm either.

McGonagall, while still resolute in being there, nonetheless did not like the situation that they had gotten themselves into.

"The difference is, we put a much higher price on our people's lives, whereas Robards won't."

"That's why we're not firing anything fatal at them. The wards will do nothing more than hinder them, knock them out, or make them sick to their stomachs, and we'll fire nothing but Stupefy and lesser jinxes and hexes." He knew that a counter-argument was coming from her, and was not disappointed.

"What constitutes a win for us here Bill?"

That, Bill did not have a good answer for. Not really. But he made one up anyway.

"When they cry 'uncle' Minerva, and stop trying to goad us into being traitors. Is everyone ready?"

They were, and Harry in particular was wishing that they had a Marauder's Map of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, but like their foes, they would be fighting this battle with an eye patch on.

Manning and Coiro had now reached the junction between the drawing room and the main staircase. Their colleagues were coming after them, satisfied that the front hallway had just those two wards. Another pair of Aurors, slightly more valuable than the first two, were blasting the walls as they walked, hoping to knock out the Concussion Curses.

"WHUMP!"

"WHUMP!"

To no avail, and down they went.

Masterson motioned Axel Stenner, his number two, forward, for a conference.

"On the one hand, they're not waiting for us at the end of the hallway, trying to bottleneck us, to nullify our numbers. But on the other, every one of us is going to have go through that first hurdle."

"Scans are proving useless, he must have a Shroud Charm up."

"He was more ready for this than we realized, Potter must have spent months planning this defense, in case the Malfoys tried something stupid."

"We really can't buy this kid off?" Stenner had been at The Battle of Hogwarts and wanted no part of trying to take on Harry, or any Weasley for that matter.

"I don't think our masters tried very hard. They just see him as some 19 year old punk kid, even Kingsley probably does. But all we can do here is die, so let's go. Level those walls, if that doesn't work, then we'll send a mass of people and just hope that the wards miss them." All of this was said rather quietly.

Leveling the wall did the trick though, with a very loud series of noises accompanying the blasts. The Concussion Curses were knocked out, but not until four more Auror were impacted by them, bringing the total to eight that would have major headaches for the rest of the fight.

Half the Aurors went up the stairs, the other half gingerly approached the drawing room. Those going up the stairs all but tiptoed, putting as little pressure on each step as they could, fearing the worst.

What they didn't know was that none of the stairs had been messed with in any way. Harry had long decided that it was just too much of a hassle to try and make the booby traps able to distinguish good guys from bad guys, and had left the stairs alone. He and Bill wanted their own people to be able to retreat down, or advance up, if the situation called for it.

Auror Group A, as the internal designation called them, advanced at a glacial pace up the stairs, there were 22 of them in all. It took over a minute to reach the second floor, with its six rooms, only three of them occupied. They had the roster of the Order, with a few names left out, and knew that there couldn't be that many of them up here. It was a bad tactical position for the defenders, as there was no way out for them, at least that was the conventional thinking among the attackers.

Axel Stenner led this group, he had actually been in this house once before, a long time ago, as he had been a childhood friend of Regulus Black, though he barely remembered the layout of the place even with Kingsley's schematic to remind him. He motioned for two of his people to stay behind to guard the stairwell.

"Don't let anyone get past you to go down. Let them go up if they want to, that will just herd them into a tighter area for us. We do not want to kill anyone if we don't have to, many of these people fought along side us in the last war."

Stenner represented more than a few of the Auror's beliefs, as at least 1/3 were wondering what the hell they were doing here, going after the Weasleys and Harry Potter, the latter of which it wasn't even clear whether he could even be killed by magic, and none of them were packing a gun at present. Some of them knew him from Hogwarts days, others from the final battle against Voldemort. All of them had respect for him in some fashion.

Though Paul Granger was packing heat, it was trained on the door and he wasn't a half bad shot either. But that was two floors up, and it was a measure of last resort anyway.

Stenner led 19 other Aurors down the hallway, and counted doors. He knew that there had to be Silencing Charms all over the place, and thought that it might work to his advantage as well.

He didn't see the Extendable Ear tendrils coming out from under three of the doors, as this was Weasley row. George was on the left, nearest to the stairwell, with a storage room in between him and Ginny. Ron was in the middle on the other side, with more storage on either side of him. They could hear everything Stenner and his people were saying, as he directed four of his people to George's door, and four each to two of the storage rooms, with eight more in reserve, including himself.

Stenner counted down silently with his fingers: Five……four……three……..two…….one……now!

Two right boots from the biggest Aurors slammed into George's door, only the door wasn't the thing that was broken.

It was their feet. The other Aurors could hear the bones cracking, as both of the kickers went down howling.

Inside, George was smiling, and gave a thumbs up to his mother. It was Steel-Test Charm, something experimental that Harry had found in an obscure book. It turned the door into hardened steel unless the knob was actually turned, and added a pulse in the process. That was the only way to get in unless extreme measures were taken.

Suddenly the designated kickers on the storage room doors were not so eager. They looked to Stenner.

"Use Blasting Charms, and hope that whomever's inside is out of the way if any shrapnel comes at them."

Four Aurors took aim at a storage room door, and let loose. The explosion would have been heard throughout the house, if the wards hadn't prevented it, and the door was turn into a hail of shrapnel that destroyed quite a bit in its path. Though the path only included odds and ends that Harry was meaning to throw out, if he ever needed the very small room. Auror Zachary Gedge reluctantly walked into the room first…….

And was yanked into the air by something unseen, and was now hanging by one leg and being swung around, with the rate of swing increasing twofold every three seconds.

"Get me down!" Gedge was in full panic mode for the first 20 seconds, as his fellows tried to figure out how to get him down. Then it sped up dramatically and he blacked out from the g forces.

"Damn it. Scan the room, make sure that there's no one in there besides Gedge. And get him down!"

All it took was a simple Summoning Charm, and the unconscious Gedge was back out in the hallway. They were down to 19 Aurors, including the stairwell watchers, and they hadn't even come into direct contact with anyone yet. Stenner was getting more pissed off by the second, but inside he was chortling over the ingenuity of it all. He motioned to some of his people.

"You, you, and you, go up to the third floor landing and see what's going on, don't engage any hostiles unless they fire on you first, but don't try and negotiate with them either. Dreybold, I want you to go back downstairs and get a situation report from Airy. Let him know that we've only just started exploring this little fun house of theirs, and that we've taken some casualties. We won't try any more doors until you get back."

"Yes sir."

Dreybold and the other three left, leaving Stenner and his group to make their plans.

Downstairs, Airy Masterson led his own group of 22 Aurors, including himself, and was at the entrance to the drawing room, which did not have a door. Manning and Coiro were again the cannon fodder, and any scans they tried were useless. The entire Order could be waiting for them in there for all they knew. Manning looked at Coiro:

"Look, if we just charge in there, we might avoid some of the traps altogether, they're going to have been laid in a way that assumes that someone is being careful. Reckless they might not have anticipated."

Coiro wanted nothing more than to fire a Killing Curse at Masterson, but instead he took a deep breath and started running into the drawing room, not waiting for Manning to join him.

And five steps in, he vanished.

There were no screams or cries, no indication of what happened to him. Masterson was all but beside himself.

"Bring up Brunsden, we're going to have her walk through there next."

Rachel Brunsden was barely conscious after her door battering ordeal, but nonetheless she was brought up from the back, where Robards and Kingsley were managing things with six other Aurors, the reserve element. Rachel, even if she were allowed to talk, had no clue about 12's defenses, she had not asked about them and doubted that Harry would have told her even if she did. She was given her wand back, with Masterson's chilling reminder:

"Just remember who has your children." Even he didn't think that Robards was cold enough to murder three children though, but it still worked really well, as he saw her inch forward into the room. Her orders were to make it to the other side.

The room was well lit, which did not make her feel any better. She did not have the 'benefit' of seeing Sean Coiro disappear either, though she did assume something heinous had happened.

Harry and company were waiting on the other side of the living room door, though it did not take an genius to figure that out. She held out her wand and sent out a series of Rictusempra's, Tickling Charms. It was one of the most basic jinxes there was, and taught to Hogwarts students in their first month. The benefit was that it took almost no energy to fire, and in this case might just activate any wards from a decent distance, causing them to bypass her. It was 15 steps to the other side in a straight line, which was what Coiro, for reasons passing understanding did. But Rachel took the scenic route, going toward the windows that didn't show anything, and around the hutch, which still contained the dinnerware that the residents ate in every night.

But Rachel's mistake was to put her hand on the hutch, for balance, she was a little wobbly still. The touch activated an extremely strong Rebounding Charm, enhanced to rebound objects, not just magic. Her hand was an object, and the force of the spell punted her right into the wall, where she stuck like a fly on flypaper, unconscious from the impact.

As this was happening, Gavin Dreybold was giving his report to Masterson, and Kingsley as well, who had come up. Masterson had finally had enough, and he motioned Kingsley to come with him, to talk to Robards. Once there, he looked right at The Minister.

"Look, we're getting sliced up right now, and we haven't even come into contact with any people, that we know of. Someone might have grabbed that idiot Coiro for all we know. But we can't keep on like this, our sole advantage in this action is our force of numbers, and the more that gets winnowed down……..well sir, you get the idea. The last thing we need is 20 against 20 on their turf."

"What are you suggesting Airy?" Neutral tone from Robards, who in spite of himself was rather impressed with the carnage so far.

"There must be Silencing Charms and Shroud Charms all over the place now, but we need to find a way to communicate with Harry Potter."

"To what end? He won't surrender."

"He and Bill Weasley will negotiate, and that's what we need right now."

"You're saying that we can't win a pitched battle here?" A slight challenge to Masterson's manhood perhaps, but the younger man did not rise to the bait.

"I'm saying that we'll get shredded by the wards before we even get to that point Minister. We just saw three wards in that drawing room, there could be 30 more before we can get someone through to the living room, where no doubt Potter and company await. And who knows what awaits us upstairs. The only alternative that I can think of is to destroy the house in place. Set the lot of us outside and level the place with as many Explosion Curses as we can fire, collapse the building around them."

Kingsley made his first foray into the conversation.

"And what will The Order be doing while we gather outside?"

"It can't be anything more than what they've done so far. Look, the wards have been non-lethal so far, and I give Potter all due credit for creativity, he's not trying to kill anyone, yet. Offer the guy a job as an Unspeakable if that's what it takes. But our current strategy is not working gentleman."

Kingsley smiled at the thought of Harry as an Unspeakable, but then turned to his boss.

"Minister, if I may offer a compromise solution."

"I'm all ears Kingsley."

"Bring Stenner and his people back down, minus two people on each landing. That cuts off any retreat from upstairs. Then we concentrate our people and do a massive Shield Charm, the overlapping should be able to deflect any of the remaining wards, which as Airy says are non-lethal. That will get us and our superior numbers to the other side, and we can have a more conventional battle, though I agree that talking to Harry and Bill would not be a waste of time either."

"Alright then, we'll do it your way Kingsley. Gavin, go back upstairs and inform Axel of the plan."

"Yes sir."

Dreybold went back upstairs, and within a couple of minutes, Stenner and most of his crew were back down. He had left the third floor people that he had already placed, and the two men with the broken feet on the second floor, as they would not as effective now. Gavin Dreybold, Hogwarts Class of 1995, had a very loud speaking voice, and every Extendable Ear on the floor heard him loud and clear.

Inside her room, Ginny waved Keenan toward the door.

"You heard the guy, they're going to do a mass assault. If the lot of us can come around behind them, we can get a crossfire going."

Keenan didn't argue, and put a Muting Charm on the door knob and its environs, and the door hinges as well. He eased the door open, counting on the fact that the guards, who were wounded to boot, were at the other end of the hallway. As he did so, he felt her lips on his ear:

"Disillusion yourself, walk down the hall counting to ten. Then fire at the man on the left."

Keenan's answer was to do as she said. Ginny likewise Disillusioned herself, and they crept out of the room. The carpeting was thick, and the sounds of their shoes were very effectively muffled as they did their walk and counted their ten.

"Stupefy."

"Stupefy."

They were within a meter of their targets when they did so, and not much more power was put into the spells than Bill had used on Teddy. But it was enough, and both men slumped to the ground, still on the carpet, not causing much noise. Ginny revealed herself, and ran to George's door, whispering fiercely:

"George, get out here, it's clear."

George had been readying a similar attack, on his own since Molly was not enthusiastic about the idea, and quickly came out, seeing Ginny doing the same with Ron.

Soon all six of them were in the hallway, and Ron dragged one of the Aurors back out of sight. He woke him up, after putting a gag on his mouth.

"You are going to call up to your friends on the third floor, and get them down here. Say that you heard something in one of the rooms, that the wards must be failing. Do it, and I won't hurt you, we'll just stash you in one of the rooms until this is all over. Mess with me, and you'll be the first to die. We're not going to kill anyone unless we absolutely have to, but better you die than us. Got it? Nod if you understand."

Narolij Singh nodded his assent, and Ron led him back over to the others, taking his gag off as George and the others moved out of sight.

"Remember, no cooperation will lead to a world of pain. Go." Ron was in the mood to hurt someone, but he didn't really want it to happen right this minute.

Singh took a few seconds to steady himself, and then called out.

"Hey guys! Get down here, we heard something in one of the rooms! The wards must be falling somehow!"

To Ron's mild surprise this seemed to work, and he heard three sets of footsteps coming down from above. George, Keenan, and Ginny all moved into position:

"Stupefy."

"Stupefy."

"Stupefy."

And down went three more Aurors, everything above the ground floor was clear. Ron looked at Singh.

"A deal's a deal. You want to be knocked out, or just tied up?" Maybe the guy would want to hear what was going on.

"Knocked out, make it look good." Singh knew that there would be an accounting after all this.

"Fair enough. Stupefy." And down went Singh. The total casualty count was now six Aurors totally out of action, with a few more with ringing ears. He looked at his mother and father, and made a decision.

"Mum, Dad, go upstairs and send everyone else down, except for anyone guarding Teddy. You two go to his room and keep an eye on him too. If anything happens to our little guy Harry will murder everyone in the house. Please go now."

Molly thought that guarding Teddy was a splendid idea, and she dragged a somewhat reluctant Arthur with her, as they went to the third floor to get Neville, Lisa, Orla, and Natalie, and then the fourth floor to retrieve Katie and Oliver. While this was going on, the Weasley siblings helped Keenan do some body disposal, putting all of them in the ruined storage room, amidst the rubble from the door. The 'prisoners' were tied up securely, and then had Disillusionment Spells put on them, to hide them from any Ministry folk trying to find them.

The six people came running as quickly and as silently as they could, and soon there were ten Order members, ready to do battle with the rear echelon of The Ministry force. Ron nodded to Neville, who unofficially assumed command.

"Okay, we need to let The Ministry people get further into the drawing room so that their numbers can be winnowed down a bit more. We can't win a direct battle with them, not quite yet. But they're a little scared now, and that's pretty good for us. They probably waltzed in here thinking that all they had to do was take out Harry and Soren and they would be A-OK. Now they have been disabused of that notion. It will make them more careful, but it will also make them anticipate things that might not necessarily be there. I'll take the lead position, Lisa the rear. Who are the best two here at long distance spell casting?"

There were some murmurs and it turned out that it was Lisa and Ginny.

"Okay, you two stand at the top of the staircase and start raining down some fire on the rear echelon as soon as you see them. Make it as loud as you can. Ron, as soon as some of them come into view, start taunting them, George you help. Don't say that their fellows up here are dead or anything, but make it clear that we control the upper floors completely. Say things about their sisters if you feel like it. The rest of us will hide in that anteroom next to the stairs. It wasn't here when Kingsley was a visitor, so the chances are that they don't even know about it, the door is pretty well camouflaged. Let's go." The anteroom was created for Teddy, it would eventually be reinforced if Teddy turned out to be a werewolf. Currently it was used for hide and seek games.

They padded quietly to the edge of the stairwell, and while Lisa, Ginny, Ron, and George got into position on the stairs, Neville and the others went down to the anteroom under Disillusion. The Aurors had not left any Alarm Charms, so as to be able to move about freely, so they went undetected.

Ron gave a silent count in his head to give his friends enough time, and then put his wand to his throat.

"Attention Ministry wankers!"

During all of this, Kingsley had been piecing together his shield unit, ten of his best Aurors and the flat out ten best shield casters. They would advance in a phalanx type formation, with another twenty Aurors behind them, the rest of them would be reserves and rear guard people. Kingsley was operating under the assumption that at least half the Order was upstairs, which was more or less correct, and that they could not get past the Aurors who were already up there, or would not choose to try.

Way wrong assumption on his part, and right before he was about to order some of the reserves to blast a larger opening in the wall, he heard Ron's voice.

"That's Ron Weasley." He wasn't sure if any of the others would know.

Ron repeated his message, calling them 'bloody wankers' this time, and Robards motioned for Kingsley to reply.

"Hello Ron, would you like to come down and talk with us?" He didn't think for one second that Ron would, but certain things had to be said before more direct threats could be issued.

"Get stuffed Kingsley, or better yet, get out of our house!"

"You need to come down Ron, this can be settled peacefully." As if that was an option on the table any longer.

"We would be happy to settle this peacefully, once you leave."

George then chimed in, making something up on the spot.

"Kingsley old bean, we will agree to mediation between you lot and The Order, to be done at, and by, the Gringott's goblins." He was glad that Harry and Bill would not be able to hear any of that, or they might have turned him over to Kingsley and Robards right there.

But it was a calculated gamble, and Kingsley could see the faces of some of his Aurors perking up, as if that wasn't a half bad idea and should be talked about. Some of the muggleborn Aurors, and there were a few of them, had seen the film Home Alone, and they weren't exactly ecstatic about playing the parts of Harry and Marv in this new, magical version.

"No thanks George, we'll pass on that. We are your government and you will answer to us, period. Do not try and talk with us as if you are our equals in stature."

Now that one really went down badly among the rank and file Aurors, and now muttering could be heard. Just proof that Kingsley was not a politician or a wordsmith and shouldn't start thinking that he was either anytime soon. He sensed that he was on the wrong foot though, and got back to his actual area of expertise.

"Airy, continue on with the operation, the reserve will handle what Ron and George, and whomever else is up there, can throw at us."

Masterson was not one of the mutterers, per se, but he was now thinking that this entire operation had been mishandled. But he was trained to follow orders, and got with the other nine members of the shield team, as the blasters starting blasting.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

And at least eight more just like, which opened two meters of space on either side of the door. Once the rubble was cleared, Kingsley gave the order, of course he would not be going along.

"Shields up, move out! Do not touch anything in that room!"

Ron didn't hesitate once he heard that, he sprinted up to the fourth floor, as Ginny, Lisa, and George started taking potshots at the reserve Aurors, attempting to get them to engage. Once up to the top floor, he pounded on Teddy's door, praying that that was where Kreacher would be.

"Dad, open up, its Ron. Omega!" Omega was their 'I don't have a wand to my head' code.

Arthur quickly opened the door, and his son hurried in, spotting Kreacher.

"Kreacher, go to the living room and alert Harry that the Aurors are coming in force, behind a shield wall. Please."

Kreacher only technically took orders from Harry, Hermione, and Neville in all cases, though most of the time he would do what various Weasleys wanted him to, since they didn't ask for much beyond food requests. But he had good memories of Ron from Hallows year and the hiding, and the constant praise that Ron gave his cooking, the first praise Kreacher had heard in a long time.

So while he still thought that Ron was a moron, he tended to obey him, by and large. As he did now.

CRACK!

Kreacher appeared in the living room, where Harry had carved a tiny hole in the Silencing Charm wall and had heard most of what Kingsley had said. So he knew that the shield wall was coming.

"Okay then, go tell Ron to keep harassing them like he's doing, and to if at all possible grab Robards. He won't be in front, we know that much. You're doing great Kreacher, thank you. Go." Always compliment Kreacher, while not overdoing it, that was Harry's mantra when dealing with the little elf.

CRACK!

The reserve Aurors could hear the crack when Kreacher left, and the one when he came back. Not being dumbbells, they knew that a message had been passed. They were still taking fire from Ron and company, but they put up their own shield wall, and the attackers were not ready to use anything heavy as of yet.

Masterson and his shield wall were moving as slowly as they could through the drawing room, which at a run would take two seconds to cross, but was looking like it would take the Aurors at least 20 seconds. The 30 Aurors got through the first 12 seconds without any problems, not touching anything surely helped, when it happened:

One of the shield wall Aurors disappeared, without a sound.

Masterson, who was still there, ordered a member of the assault force to take the missing woman's place in the wall. They were over halfway there.

"Slowly people, if it's your turn to be snatched away, then it's your turn. Just be ready when we get to the door." Masterson was hating every second of this folly.

And then he heard Neville and company engage the Auror reserves, who were now 16, very long, seconds behind them.

"Forward! Do not deviate! Assault force, wands at the ready!" They were just about there.

"Shield wall, down on the floor on my mark, assault force you will fire when we are down…….three……..two……..one……..DOWN!"

Ten men and women, including Masterson himself, hit the deck………and two more disappeared into thin air.

"FIRE!"

19 Aurors fired point blank at the living room door with Blasting Curses from less than two meters away. Cracks appeared in the door as the wards were obliterated, but the door did not open.

"FIRE AGAIN DAMN YOU!" They were sitting ducks where they were right now.

Another fusillade of Blasting Curses turned the door into powder. But they had spent so much energy getting the door open, they forgot the fact that 27 people aren't going to be able to fit through one doorway.

And Harry and company began to fire on them.

End Chapter


	47. It Just Isn't Cricket

Author's Note: During much of this chapter, if not all, you never know, there are two locations. You know which ones they are if you read the last half of the last chapter. Know that some things are happening simultaneously, but I'm not going to timestamp everything, even as I'm endeavoring to make things as clear as I can for you. And for me. Trust me, it's a struggle sometimes.

December 24, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:00 pm

The problem with holding up a really effective shield wall, as the Auror reserves, including, but not limited to Kingsley Shacklebolt and Gawain Robards, were discovering is that you can do nothing but block when you are behind it. The overlapping shields were very effective at keeping all but the most heinous curses out, but they could do nothing but sit there and take shots from what seemed to be almost a dozen Order members. It was hard for the defenders, as they now were, to see exactly who was up there, though they assumed that Ron and George were still around. The Aurors did know that Harry and Bill were not present, which would imply that Hermione and Fleur were also in the other area. That meant, as far as they were concerned, that they facing the bench players of the Order.

The supposed benchwarmers were led by Neville, who did not seem to be at all interested in advancing forward right now. He was content to keep them pinned down, while he thought of a better plan for getting them. Neville was confident that Harry and his group, small though they were, could keep Masterson and the main Auror force from doing too much damage. But his thought now was this:

How many DMLE personnel were outside? Was this all the manpower that The Ministry could bring to bear, or were there more reserves out there waiting to join the fight? Neville had a rough idea of the composition of Auror Command, but there could be special units that he didn't know about, and there had to be troops guarding the home office, right?. The front door was wide open, via blasting damage, and he didn't know what sort of time frame that anyone on the outside would be working off of. So he made sure that at least five Order members were firing on the shield wall at all times, with nothing heavier than a Stunner. It would now be a question of who got tired faster, the attackers or the defenders.

But then again………

He had a quick idea, and made his way over to Katie:

"In Harry's room there should be a box of cricket balls, you know what they look like?"

"As long as they're in plain sight I should be able to find them, why?"

"Those shields won't keep out anything solid." And cricket balls were very solid.

Katie grinned at him, fired off a couple more Stunners, and raced up to the fourth floor. She was in even better shape than Harry was, and made the trip with little heavy breathing. The cricket balls, which she vaguely remembering Harry talking about as some kind of Quidditch lesson for the Hogwarts teams, were in one of the closets. She grabbed the box, made sure that she had a good hold on it, and sprinted back down the stairs to where Neville was still stationed.

"This should be good. Katie, Oliver, you two are the professionals here. We'll keep the wands firing as you do your own special firing. Don't go for any heads if you can possibly help it, we don't want to do any serious injuries. Go for wands if you can be that precise." Neville was sure that they could, but there were only a dozen balls in the case, so their shots would have to count very large……..though the balls could always be Summoned back, another idea that just popped in his head. Proof that Auror training isn't all a waste of time, though he always had a hard time convincing Harry of that.

"Oliver, Katie, fire when ready." He didn't say this very loudly, not wanting the Aurors to know what was coming at them.

The Puddlemere teammates and soon to be engaged couple, or rather Oliver had the ring in his pocket, picked up the balls, which neither of them had ever used before, and took aim.

Oliver fired first, a dead fastball that drilled Kingsley in the thigh. Kingsley was, unfortunately for him, the easiest to pick out of the reserve Aurors, as he was the only person with dark skin. All the other Aurors of color were either upstairs and knocked out, or in a comparatively worse position as guinea pigs for Harry's wards in the drawing room. Kingsley was tough though, and didn't drop his wand, though he would not be walking without a limp for a few days if he got through this.

Keenan had the presence of mind to Summon the ball back up there, as Katie took her first shot. She logically assumed that where Kingsley was, Robards would not be far away, and took her shot at the person to Kingsley's left, the shield wall somewhat obscured the defenders from full view, and the lighting wasn't too good in this part of the house anyway.

Robards was to Kingsley's right, as it turned out, but otherwise her aim was darn good, as befitting the third leading scorer in the League. She nailed Auror Thomas Becket, not THAT Thomas Becket, right on the wrist, causing him to drop his wand. His wrist was broken, and in the five seconds it took him to pick up his wand with his other hand and use it, the wall was diminished. Ron and the others took advantage of that by increasing their rate of fire, and Oliver was now firing at Becket too, hoping to knock out his other hand.

He didn't hit the hand, but a shot to the sternum caused Becket to again drop his wand. Neville was now talking to them.

"Ministry personnel, there is no need for this, you can lay down your wands right now and this will stop. No harm whatsoever will be done to you if you do, our fight here is not with you. Ladies, guys, please don't make us do this, we do not want to hurt you. Please." His appeal was plaintive.

Looks from Kingsley and Robards, who were both starting to buckle under the strain of the shield conjuring, prevented any Aurors from responding. But plans were being made.

At the junction between the living room and the drawing room, Harry was directing the same kind of barrage at Masterson's people that Neville was doing to Kingsley and Robards. The object was the same, delay the Aurors and try to winnow down their numbers. And if the Aurors wound up doing something foolhardy and stupid, well so much the better.

Soon after the door blew open, injuring no one but causing some light property damage, Charlie ran back to get Soren, they would need every wand they could get. Amos and his wife had been told by Soren previously that they needed to remain in the kitchen. If the Order was able to snag Robards, they would need Diggory to take charge of the situation.

She ran up, and after Harry raised his eyebrows at her, as if to say 'well, what do you advise here?':

"Concentrate fire on the doorway obviously, we can't do much of anything until they make a charge." Simple and to the point.

Downstairs, Luna and her group were wondering just what the heck was going on, the strategy of having the Aurors try to clear each room was not going according to plan.

"Penelope, come along. We must join the others."

The basement's entrance led up to the living room, in an obscure door made more obscure because Harry had put things in front of it. He wanted to confuse any possible intruders on where it was. That was a bit problematic now that Luna and her father lived down there, but it turned out that they liked having to move things to get to their beds, and didn't mind in the least. Luna and Penelope joined the others, got a situation report, and added their constant stream of fire to the others. Mr. Lovegood and Slughorn had other things to do in the basement anyway.

Airy Masterson had declined to put up another shield wall, though individual Aurors were free to use them if they wanted to. But most of them just wanted use their wands offensively right now. Not that it was getting them anywhere, the area surrounding the door was proving harder to cave in than they thought, and Masterson was delaying in ordering a mass firing on one single spot. But he did recognize that they needed to get out of this particular spot right now.

"Axel!"

Axel Stenner formerly the leader of the upstairs group, was now part of the assault force, and was firing at who he thought was Minerva McGonagall right now, but his eyesight wasn't the best even without all of the dust floating about in the air. Of all the people that he thought were in the living room, he disliked her the most by far.

"We need to get out of here Airy, order a charge." He doubted that this would end well, better now to end it quickly.

"I have a different idea. The ceiling can't be that well protected, destroy some of it and get you and a few others up to the next floor. Then go round behind them, and flank them." The ceiling was high enough that the next floor up was the third floor, where the rooms were larger and more comfortable. It was where Charlie and Neville/Lisa resided, along with Harry's office and Kreacher's lair, he had been hectored into moving somewhere more comfortable by Harry and Hermione.

"We'd be sitting ducks as we went up in the air though." Aside from that, he rather liked the plan, depending on the booby traps in the room above.

"We will put up another shield wall to protect you, and I have another idea as well."

"We're not going to win here, you know that don't you?" Stenner prayed that he did.

"Not the way things are going Axel, no. But soon Robards and his lackey are going to order us to begin using Avada Kedavra to break the stalemate. Then we have some decisions to make. We need to be in a better negotiating position when we do. Get ready, you go up in 30 seconds."

Stenner gave hand signals to four of his people, and nodded to Masterson that they were ready.

Airy looked at the man to his right and the woman to his left.

"Do what I do…………..Vuldro!"

A thick white fog streamed out of his wand toward the doorway, and his two underlings immediately did the same. Within seconds the area was obscured, and Stenner wasted no time. He blasted a small hole in what turned out to be the unprotected ceiling of the drawing room. Other members of the assault force, the ones who weren't firing through the fog, used Mobilicorpus to hoist the five flanking attackers up through the ceiling. Stenner was first, and to his vast relief found no guards.

Booby traps were another matter, and while his comrades were being hoisted up, he did a quick scan and found that the room, which was Neville's as it turned out, had at least eight of them in various places. The scan worked because the Shroud Charms that were part of each cocktail did not anticipate that the attacker would already be inside the room when the scan was done. Once everyone was assembled:

"Right then, we need to make our way into the kitchen area, it is behind where we assume that Harry and his friends are, and I cannot imagine that they have much of a reserve. That's their disadvantage here, they cannot waste anyone who can fight. Now be bloody careful until we get there, I want at least two people scanning for every second that we are up here, who knows what awaits us. I will remind you again: The use of Avada Kedavra has NOT been authorized."

Wittal Magoo, our old friend from the Bender question earlier in the evening, had another pertinent one:

"But sir, The Minister said that we are allowed to use it if we feel that our lives are in danger." He didn't disagree, necessarily, with Stenner's position, he just wanted clarification.

But Stenner didn't really take it that way:

"Your life is not in danger Magoo, open your damn eyes! If Harry wanted us dead, we would all be in the middle of rigor mortis by now! All he had to do was make the wards more lethal and we'd have been finished. He is making every effort to keep us alive, and unless we want that to change, we must do the same for them. Am I understood?"

All four of the others noted Stenner's use of Harry's first name, twice.

But they nodded their agreement all the same, and prepared to move out, Stenner's father was on the Wizengamot and was loaded to the gills with connections, they didn't need him pissed at them.

Meanwhile, the Oliver/Katie cricket ball barrage was starting to pay dividends, as they really found the range with their weapons. In fact they were proving to be more effective than everyone's wands, so Neville had Ron, who did have Quaffle handling skills of a sort after three years as the Gryffindor Keeper, join the assault.

Not the best idea if you didn't want to injure someone though, as Ron figured out who Robards was, and started aiming at his head. He may have deferred to Neville a little bit before, but he took orders from only Harry in this house, and that was because it was Harry's house and only that. Fortunately for The Minister's brain matter, Ron didn't directly connect, but a nice shot to the ear temporarily left him deaf in that particular ear, and hurt like hell in the process.

This had the effect of spurring Kingsley to actually act, the last thing he wanted was Robards taking one to the nose or something similar.

"Aurors, you are now authorized to use whatever means necessary to stop this assault. I want Travers and Walker to stop their part of the shield and push them off of us, now." He knew that a line was being crossed here, but something had to change or they were going to be captured. That would not be good.

Bill Travers and Eamon Walker were considered to be loose cannons by pretty much everyone in Auror Command. No one on the team had more disciplinary reports for suspect abuse and violence than they did, which was why they were under Kingsley's close watch. Little did he know that they were fully on board with Robards and what he was aiming to do. But that also made them the best choices here.

"Do it, now!"

Travers and Walker both took aim at Neville, who they correctly saw as the leader:

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

And the tenor changed.

Neville was, along with the others besides Keenan and Arthur, who were in the anteroom still, up on the second floor landing. It was far enough away that he could dodge the curses, which exploded behind them. He yelled out:

"Okay now, those were your freebie shots! If you want to ramp it up Minister, remember that we can too! And try and keep in mind that this is our house and we know it much better than you do!" He stopped yelling and spoke quietly to Katie.

"Start aiming for Kingsley's head, we need to end this soon and join the others. The people in the drawing room aren't going to stay there forever."

Speaking of the drawing room:

Masterson was still waiting for some word of Stenner's success, hopefully his number two would give some sort of sign. But after three minutes he gave up, to a point, and he was getting sick of the fog come out of his wand as well. He pulled aside the person next to him, Auror Hannah Christian.

"Look, we can't wait for them. We need to do a charge of some sort, that will break their line, there can't be more than 10 of them. We'll take some hits, but our numbers should prevail right now. Pass the word, we charge in 90 seconds."

He figured that's how long it would take for everyone to hear what they were doing. It was a minerals risking play, as far as Airy was concerned, but he did not see the alternative. There was no way that Kingsley and Robards were going to risk their collective skins to save them, the boss folk would think that it should be the other way round. So they had to help themselves, or surrender. And while Masterson was getting closer to acknowledging the utility of the second option, he was not quite there yet. He directed those nearest to him to lighten up on their barrage as the word went around.

Once everyone was informed, Masterson simply screamed:

"NOW!"

Those nearest to the door charged in, there were six of them, and none of them seemed to notice that Harry and the others were standing a meter back from the doorway. None of the attackers processed this immediately because four of them disappeared as soon as they crossed the doorway. The other two of the front echelon managed to come to a halt, somehow.

But it was short lived as Harry and Charlie put a Stunner each into them, with Fleur and Bill Summoning them to the back of the living room, in order to prevent any Aurors from awakening their comrades.

So with the front echelon gone, the enthusiasm from the rest of the attackers dissipated quite quickly. Instead, they quickly put up another shield wall, with Masterson yet again trying to regroup. He was down to 15 people including himself, and as far as he knew, the Order had not lost anyone.

Though McG and Hermione had each been knocked out once, and quickly revived and put back into the fight. But that was it. The numbers were now almost even, 15 Aurors against 10 Order members, with Diggory, his wife, Slughorn, and Mr. Lovegood in reserve if absolutely necessary.

But Axel Stenner and his people were about to join the fray. They weren't really sure where they were in the house, only that they had counted enough paces on the third floor that they should be above the living room now. He set Wittal Magoo to start lightly cutting a hole in the floor, one big enough to fit at least two people through.

"Don't cut all the way through, just do enough so that we can stomp on the floor and go through it. It'll be a long drop, but if we're ready, no one will get injured. You have one minute, go." Stenner then pulled aside Danilo Baronio and Lucy Wolverton, the other two people on his usual crew. His talk was for their ears alone.

"Look, if things go badly in there after the first drop, lower your wand and surrender. I don't want anything being unduly risked right now."

"You don't think we can win boss?" Baronio never thought that they should have invaded the house in the first place.

"No, I really don't. Even if the drop is successful, and that's a big 'if', the floor is going to be riddled with traps, and we don't know where they are, they do. If this idiocy was to have succeeded, then we needed much more manpower. Or we needed to make a private deal with Harry. Even if we win here, which I don't think we will, there is going to be a lot of egg on our faces. We've been exposed here mates, a bunch of amateurs goaded Kingsley and The Minister into an attack on ground not of our choosing, but we still should done better."

Wolverton had a thought:

"Should we switch sides Axel? Can we count on Pot…..err, Harry, to take care of us afterward?" Wolverton had been a reluctant candidate for the Defense job that Soren Bender had gotten, as Kingsley had wanted a person inside Hogwarts that reported to him alone, rather than Milo Sonnanstine who reported mainly to Robards. Her lack of outward enthusiasm had put her in second place, to her relief.

Stenner sighed, but he was grateful that someone else had said it first. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Magoo had finished his cutting work, and he and the other Auror were drawing a red line around the hole for easier viewing. They were also trying very hard to hear what was going on, unsuccessfully of course.

"The problem with switching sides, is that if Harry loses, then we're dead. And I don't mean metaphorically. I can live with that, can the two of you?"

"I'm with you Axel, all the way." Baronio.

"Me too boss, where you go, I go." Wolverton.

"Thank you, both. As soon as you turn around, Stun those two. We can't count on them to follow us, Magoo in particular, the little bootlicker. Whenever you're ready."

Oh they were ready, as they whipped around, wands already out anyway.

"Stupefy!"

"Stupefy!"

Magoo and Patrickson slumped to the ground, fortunately not on the almost cut through hole. There was no need to move the bodies, and Stenner went over to the hole.

"Well, the boy cuts a good hole, I'll give him that. Now all we have to do is make contact with those people without getting nailed in the process. Lucy, conjure up a white flag and a stick."

"Done." And it was done, very quickly, simple stuff really.

"What the hell are we doing. Danilo, kick the hole out, Lucy lean out with the white flag and I'll keep hold of you. Do it now before I change my mind, let's just pray that Airy is still being cautious and hasn't charged yet." Axel Stenner was feeling very tired right about now.

Baronio took his rather large foot and stomped on the hole, causing it to fall down to the floor below, though not near anyone. Wolverton immediately waved the white flag, and no fire was returned. Right then. She said, in what she hoped was a voice not able to be heard by any attacking Aurors:

"Three of us coming down, we are not hostiles." Without giving them a chance to think about it, Wolverton dropped down, putting a Feather Light Charm on herself to break the fall.

It turned out that she dropped into pretty much the same stalemate that she left on the other side five minutes ago. Both sides were probing, and neither was willing to risk a charge.

Bill walked back to her, wand trained, even though her hands, and thus her wand, were raised high in the air.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lucy Wolverton, my crew and I would like to no longer fight you."

"Then lay down your wands." The obvious response.

"I think it would be more beneficial to all of us if we were on your side in this, fighting with you. I'm with Danilo Baronio and Axel Stenner, our crew leader."

Bill knew only the last name, though Wolverton herself looked vaguely familiar, possibly from Hogwarts days. But the last name resonated, as Axel's father was very well known.

"Get them down here."

Wolverton whistled an all clear sign, as Bill signaled his people to step up the pace on their spell casting. Baronio and Stenner dropped down, and the latter reached out his hand to Bill.

"This isn't a setup, you have my oath. We're the three newest members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"The word 'why' does come to mind here."

"Besides that you're going to win? This never should have happened. No one with half a brain thinks that your boy over there is a traitor to the government. Everyone in there is just following orders, well, most everyone. Let me see what I can do about getting some more people over here, with us. I repeat, this is not a setup." He flipped his wand, and offered it to Bill, handle first.

Bill knew that he really could not afford to think about this for too long. So he didn't think about it much at all.

"Keep it, go make your pitch."

The four of them walked over to the battle area, where things had slowed down greatly, as people got more and more tired. Magical folk only had a finite amount of ammunition in them, and even that depended on their power. Harry and Fleur were more or less fine, but everyone else were nearing the end of their ropes, with Hermione almost on empty.

Bill gave them all a five second primer on what the heck was going, and then looked at Harry.

"You want to take the Silencing Charm off the doorway so that the man can do his work?"

"I'd love nothing more." Harry was a bit dubious about all of this, but he had seen the wand offer out of the corner of his eye, which went at least part of the way toward convincing him. Harry took the charm off the door, though he left every other ward intact, and Stenner got as close as the others were willing to let him get. There was no firing now, as every Auror in the other room was either resting or part of the shield wall.

"Airy, this Axel. Please come forward, we need to talk."

Back at the other location, Oliver and Katie were doing pretty well with the cricket balls until Kingsley ordered three of his people to conjure up large wooden shields for everyone to hide behind. Doing that greatly weakened the three Aurors, almost to the point of not being able to fight any longer, but it was effective in repelling cricket balls…….which were much heavier than Quaffles, and Katie soon complained that her arm was getting tired.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up Neville." A few weeks on non-Quidditch activity, and Katie herself had not even looked at a live broom since the last game, had allowed certain muscles to atrophy just a little.

The wooden shields, which the Aurors were all hiding behind, were stout enough that they could keep out most of the lighter hexes and jinxes. So Neville, while knowing that his people were getting tired too, couldn't see a way around the stalemate that didn't involve a charge that he deemed suicidal at best.

Travers and Walker had fired a few more Avada Kedavra's before giving it up as pointless, the targets were just too far away. Avada Kedavra sounded very ominous to a Wizard……to muggles it just sounded like abracadabra…….but it was not a great offensive spell if used from long range. It did not move through the air any quicker than a less harmful spell, but it took a lot more energy to fire. The Department of Experimental Charms estimated that your average Wizard, say Ginny Weasley, had about ten Avada Kedavra's in them in a 30 minute time frame, before magical exhaustion set in. The same time frame would allow for 25 uses of Reducto, 40 uses of Stupefy, and at least 60 uses of Rictusempra, the Tickling Charm. Kingsley and Robards both knew these numbers.

As a Ministry Department Head, Arthur did as well, and had duly passed them on to his own organization.

So there was a stalemate, and Neville had all but thrown up his hands. He motioned Keenan to come over, the older man had made his way up from the anteroom once the Killing Curses started firing.

"I'd love to hear some ideas right now. They can't just hunker down there forever can they?"

"They are doing what they're supposed be doing Neville: Stopping us from getting to the main body, which has got at least a two to one manpower advantage over our other group. The only thing saving us right now is that they don't dare touch anything for fear they'll vanish, or get spun into the air." Keenan had been a part of the vanishing decisions, the ward was used by Gringott's in their high security areas. Meaning that if you didn't know where to step, you didn't belong in that area.

"Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Yes, Master Neville?" Kreacher had been back with Teddy, and trying to ignore the Weasley and Granger parents as much as he could.

"Find out what's going on with Harry, please." Neville really didn't like Kreacher, though it was not on a Sirius level, but he forced himself to be polite.

"Of course."

CRACK!

Down at the drawing room entrance, Kingsley heard the multiple cracks, and looked at his boss, whose ear was swelling up nicely.

"They're passing messages back and forth again, we have to do something." He had to speak kind of loudly, because the bad ear was on his side.

"Give Masterson five more minutes."

"Then what?"

"Would you rather charge Longbottom and Weasley, or retreat out the front door and come back with more troops?" He estimated that they had at least ten people outside, but because of the Shroud Charms, no communications could go in or out, Hermione's and Lisa's cell phones wouldn't even work.

But The Minister did not shade his voice to indicate his preference between the two choices, and Kingsley took it to mean that he wanted his honest opinion.

"We can't charge up the stairs, with a numbers disadvantage. On level ground we might have a chance, possibly. But not going up like that. We're already in a shooting gallery, and the only thing saving us is that they don't want to kill us. They didn't even respond to the Killing Curse goads." Which is why the goads had been ordered in the first place, to get a response that might push things over the line. Kingsley firmly believed that this benign, almost elegant way of battle greatly favored the other side.

"So retreat then. Will they allow us to do that? Unmolested?"

"I wouldn't if I were them, but Neville is cautious by nature, and if Ron and George go along with him, they might just be satisfied to take shots at us as we go. Then they'll go into the drawing room and butcher our other team."

The other Aurors could hear every word of this, and the muttering was now back in full force. Even Travers and Walker, who wanted to take the fight to the Order, were appalled at the idea of just leaving Airy Masterson and his people to a certain fate of being hostages. And bargaining chips.

"It sounds as if you don't like either option."

"I don't sir, but we can't negotiate with Neville Longbottom, Auror in training. That sets such a horrific precedent that I can't begin to tell you what kind of damage it would cause. It would give every organization like The True Voice, The Order, or even The Daily Prophet, the knowledge that one can defy us with impunity, and that we'll come to the bargaining table if it looks like there's a chance that we might lose a fight. We have the best trained fighting force in the British Isles, and we need to use them. If some of the Order people die or get seriously injured……well they should have thought about that before digging their heels in."

The last thing that Gawain Robards wanted right now was to be captured, and inevitably be put under Veritaserum. But even a strategic retreat, which was what running out the door would be, just made his stomach clench up with frustration. He looked around.

"What's to the left of us? Number 11, right?"

"Right, we have a couple of people in there now." Where presumably those two people had contained any muggles living there that were home.

"It's a much shorter distance to that wall than to the front door."

Kingsley immediately pointed to two of his men:

"Start cutting a hole in that wall, as quietly as you can."

It was one thing to cut a hole when the other side couldn't see you, like in the drawing room with Stenner and his people. But now Neville could see what was going on, and he knew that this would not be good. He waved at the others.

"Incendio, now. Set those shields on fire, we can't let them get away. I know you're tired, but do it now."

The wands all started pouring fire out, and Ron and George started walked down the stairs as they did it. Seventh year Defense class taught Incendio as a major part of the syllabus, and all of them were pretty skilled at it by now. It quickly set all three of the large wooden shields on fire, and Lisa and Ginny soon switched to Stunners again, aimed right at the two hole cutters.

Both of which were hit, then revived, then hit again, then revived again. But the hole was almost done, and only George and Ron were close enough to prevent a possible escape.

Until it happened.

Back in the other room, Axel Stenner and Airy Masterson were as close together as the wards would let them be, a bit more than a meter apart.

"Axel, you want to tell me what you're doing?" It didn't take a genius to guess though.

"I'm asking you to think about this for a minute, what are we doing here?"

Masterson had been asking himself that same question more than a few times in the last minutes.

"You switched, didn't you?" Not a wild guess, given what he knew of his friend. But his voice was not an accusing one.

"Join us Airy, let's stop this before it gets out of control."

"And it's not out of control yet?" It was probably the most surreal experience of Airy's 41 years.

"No one is dead."

And that was the kicker as far as Airy Masterson was concerned.

"Bring Harry Potter and Bill Weasley up here."

Harry and Bill were off to the side, where they could listen to a normal volume conversation, but not necessarily be seen doing it. So they came and stood on either side of Stenner, so hopefully no one would see the six wands trained at Stenner's back right now.

"I want your oaths that the Aurors that disappeared are alive." He was testing the 'no one has died' statement, and Airy knew that Stenner would want to know this as well.

"They are alive and unharmed, you have my oath." Harry even raised his right hand, like they did on television.

"And mine as well, you can see them in a few minutes if we can come to an understanding." Bill thought that that might seal the deal.

And he was right.

Airy Masterson turned to his troops, all of whom were exhausted, and few of whom had any interest at all in continuing this.

"I am ordering a cease fire at this position. Am I understood? We are not surrendering, we are terminating the battle, on both sides."

No one objected, and Masterson and Stenner both breathed very visible sighs of relief. The former eyed Harry and walked up to him, or as close as he could. Speaking quietly:

"I guess by now you understand that Robards and Lucius Malfoy are not adversaries."

"Yes."

"I was not asked my opinion of that at the time, and I would have objected to the deal if I had. Things got out of control, and it was too late for any of us in the know to stop it. You took care of Lucius I take it?" He sure hoped so.

"He won't be bothering anyone ever again. How many know about that arrangement?"

"Maybe four or five. Nice move with Phideas by the way, she couldn't make it through the doorway." Masterson had never trusted the Metamorph, not only because of her ways, but because of her powers. He had not trusted Tonks for the same reason.

"She killed Percy?"

"I would assume so, but I don't know for sure. Now c'mon, let's go."

"I'm not going to The Ministry."

"No, to the other room and defuse that situation. Then we'll all talk and get this worked out. No one from your group is getting arrested, assuming that my disappeared troops are okay. And yes, I want a private explanation on how you accomplished that. Something tells me that it wouldn't prevent you from doing it in the future."

"Fair enough, once Robards answers for what he has done."

"I'm okay with that, I'm a little curious to hear the whole story myself. Let's go."

After Harry disabled the wards on the drawing room, the lot of them marched into the other room just seconds before Neville was about to order a down the stairs charge. Masterson again took control.

"Aurors, I am ordering a cease fire, you are to lower your wands immediately." He motioned to Bill.

"Order members, do the same. The battle is over."

One thing though.

Robards got to his feet, a hair bit groggy, but not so groggy that he didn't want to assert his authority.

"You do not have my leave to order a cease fire Airy. You will arrest these people and transport them to The Ministry. Now." He was not yelling, Robards knew that such an act would not play well here, not with practically every Auror in the DMLE present.

"No sir, I will not. I am taking you and Head Auror Shacklebolt into temporary custody until we can sort all of this out. Lucy, Gavin, go outside and get the rest of our troops and bring them in. Make sure all relevant muggles have been taken care of."

"Yes sir."

"Yes sir."

"Dreybold, Wolverton, you will do no such thing. Airy, you are under arrest on the charge of willful disobeying of multiple direct orders."

"I do not so recognize your authority to do that any longer sir. This has gone far enough. You led our entire force into a potential slaughter, and for what? So you could prop up your own power base by saying that you brought The Boy Who Lived and his confederates to heel? Well it didn't work, did it?"

"No it did not."

This was Amos Diggory, who Soren had retrieved from the kitchen. He motioned for Gavin Dreybold and Lucy Wolverton to obey Masterson's orders.

More murmuring from the Aurors. While they had absolutely no respect for Amos' fighting ability, and did not consider him an Auror or anything like it, he was a widely respected administrator, who was very generous when it came to granting leaves of absences, or other little courtesies whenever he could. Some eyes shifted to Kingsley now, but the Head Auror was remaining silent. Not silent was The Minister though.

"My God Amos, you as well? A traitor." Robards could believe it though.

"I decided to act Gawain, nothing more. And you are under arrest, for the murders of Andromeda Tonks and Percy Weasley at the very least. Airy, I am taking charge of the situation, but you are still the ranking Auror at the scene and are in charge of your personnel and their deployments."

"Yes sir."

There was no one titled Deputy Head Auror, but Masterson was more or less that person, in a de facto sense.

"Now what?" Harry asked that question, but everyone wanted to know."

Airy answered.

"Where are the rest of our men?"

"The ones from my section of the battle are in the basement being guarded by Professor Slughorn and Mr. Lovegood." He looked at Neville for his part:

"We have some of them in a room upstairs. A couple of broken feet and a concussion I think are all the injuries up there."

Order members and Aurors were sent to both locations to get them, and soon everyone was back in the living room, a very crowded room now. But first, Masterson, Stenner, Harry, and Bill had a conversation, Masterson leading off:

"Look you guys, I can appreciate that you're going to want to nail Robards to the wall and let him be eaten by ants or something, but there's one problem."

"Wival Vendish?" The Wizengamot Head who would take over if Robards resigned, was convicted, or had an 'accident. Vendish ascending to power was something Bill did not want.

"Okay, two problems. The other is that if he takes Veritaserum, at least one of you is going to have to as well, or this whole thing will look like either a coup or a put-up job. And something tells me that you do not want that Yaxley burning to be known as your handiwork…….no, let me finish. None of us blame you for doing it, and you likely saved Auror Command and the DMLE a lot of future hassles by doing it. But murdering 16 people is murdering 16 people. I doubt he did anything technically worse than that." He was not willing to bet money on it though, even as he was essentially betting his career.

"So what are you asking of us?" Harry thought that he knew what was coming, and was not disappointed.

"Start thinking of a deal that you can accept without choking too hard, and you had better think fast."

End Chapter


	48. Denouement

Wednesday, December 24, 1999, continued

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

6:20 pm

"Start thinking of a deal that you can accept without choking too hard, and you had better think fast." Masterson was hoping for some visible rage, he needed some amusement after the last 45 minutes.

But he didn't get any, instead there were a pair of resigned looks, it was as if Bill and Harry knew that he was right, but wished that he wasn't. He had to admit that he was impressed by the two of them.

"No jail? Are we going to have to accept that?" Bill was watching Harry out of the corner of his eye.

"You might have to, yes. I'll happily testify against him in court, and so will a few other people I'm sure, but The Wizengamot likes Gawain Robards. A lot. With Vendish disqualified, I don't know if you would have the votes to convict him, even if he did take Veritaserum and spill all he knew. They could just say that what he did fell under a Minister's executive powers, and then turn on you."

Stenner saw the confused looks, and explained.

"Vendish would be forced to disqualify himself because he would gain promotion if Robards was convicted. And I don't know that his fellow colleagues would want to see him elevated." His father would be one of those colleagues not liking Vendish becoming Minister.

"None of us do. But you think we can actually get him to resign? Or does he have to, as you put it, have an 'accident'?"

"He might have to Harry, yeah. And remember, any trial puts at least the two of you on the witness stand, if not your entire cadre, and that would be very bad for all of you. But as it happens, I have an idea. You know that it was Lucius who actually had your godson's grandmother killed, right?"

"Draco confessed to it."

And another Knut dropped, both Aurors knew Draco's ultimate fate now. Stenner recovered quickly though.

"Well good, I'm glad that's taken care of. But I am now thinking of Percy, and his killer is Macel Phideas, who is waiting outside for you to lower your wards. In custody I might add." He had ordered Dreybold to do it, quietly, just in case.

"I'm listening." Harry was hoping that there was good news at the end of this.

"I think she should be the one to cause the accident, if you will. She's looking at life in Azkaban for killing your brother, Bill. I think she would be amenable to an arrangement that lets her exit the country, the same way the victim did, under the same terms. I know her financial situation, you wouldn't even have to get her a job, though she's not fabulously wealthy. Can you live with that Bill?"

"I can, sure. My mother and father however, will be tougher hurdles."

Airy sighed, he liked the deal too, but acknowledged the problem.

"Your mother is not a concern, but your father is a popular man in The Ministry. Get him over here and let's see what he has to say."

Arthur was duly retrieved, and presented with Axel Stenner's plan.

"So Percy's killer will get off scot-free?" He didn't exactly look 'angry', but frustrated ws coming on.

Masterson answered him.

"The actual killer, yes. The one who ordered it is the one who is going to pay the penalty. The ultimate penalty Arthur. I'm not asking if this deal will make you happy, any dimwit can see that it wouldn't. I'm simply asking if you can live with it, keep quiet, and guarantee the same from your wife. I would like to remind you that we're being aboveboard here by presenting this to you, it could easily have been done under the table."

"Why thank you Airy, for your generosity after you invaded this home and tried to arrest my entire family." More than a touch of sarcasm from Arthur there, but it didn't have the effect that he wanted.

"Tried and failed, Arthur. Which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. You won, but it's not a total victory and you know it. It has to come backed with some legitimacy."

"Who takes over as Minister?

"Vendish until the election can be called, and it takes 30 days to put one together usually. So call it February 1st, or something like that. He can't cause too much trouble until then." He hoped.

"Will he be involved in the deal?"

"Eventually, he'll have to know pieces of it now if he's to take over. I didn't hear a 'yes' or a 'no', Arthur."

"We will not cause a fuss, as long as Robards dies. You have my guarantee, and I speak for Molly." He looked at Harry after saying that, but his surrogate son did him the favor of not smirking or otherwise casting aspersions on what he said.

Actually, Harry was impressed that Arthur was being so pragmatic about the whole thing, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to pat the other man on the back just now. Or even later. Instead:

"Well that's settled. But I would like him to go under Veritaserum by force, just so that we know all of what happened."

"That's fair, Axel and I would like the same." A look to his friend confirmed as much.

"And obviously nothing is to happen to anyone in the Order for what went on tonight."

"That assumes that you won't ask for damages for the carnage to your house." Masterson thought that it was a very good deal for The Order if they took it, laws technically had been broken en masse by Harry and his people.

"Fair enough." Nothing had really been broken that couldn't be fixed, or so Harry assumed. He hadn't done a tour yet.

Stenner sent his man Danilo Baronio to go fetch Wival Vendish, who was about to have an early Christmas present. Masterson was still a little flabbergasted that he, of all people, was doing the negotiating, this was not usually his thing. But he realized that he spoke for Auror Command, and that brought him to his next point.

"Now we have to talk about Kingsley."

"Hang on a second. Kreacher!"

CRACK!

"Yes Master, is the business over with?" He looked around, but you never know.

"I sure hope so, how is Teddy?" The Grangers were still up with him.

"He is still asleep, or knocked out, I do not know which."

That was a long speech for Kreacher, and Bill started smiling, as Harry answered.

"Okay then, go into the living room and make sure that everyone is fed and watered. There should be enough food to keep people busy."

"Of course, we always have extra."

"Thank you Kreacher, you've done a terrific job tonight."

CRACK!

"Good, now that that's taken care of, let's talk about Kingsley. Airy, I imagine that you have some ideas on that, or at least what you would like to have happen."

"I do, thank you Harry. Today was a tactical debacle for Auror Command. Leaving aside whether we should have come in here at all, and I don't think that we should have, but that is ultimately a political question that the politician in question is going to suffer for. But we came in here and got destroyed, figuratively, and heads have to roll for that. Kingsley needs to go. If he's willing to be demoted back to regular Auror, I have no problem with that. But Head Auror? Not after today, not again anytime soon. Axel?"

Stenner had a different idea:

"A quiet reassignment within the government, but take away his Auror privileges. You can't recover from what happened today, and once it really hits home for the rank and file that he effectively turned on you Order lot because Robards was waving succession plans in front of him? I don't know anyone that would want to be on a crew with him, he'd all but be ostracized from the first week."

Airy had something to say, as everyone chewed on that:

"Are you wanting more than that for him?"

"As long as he didn't know ahead of time about the murders of Andromeda and Percy, we're fine with Axel's option. Right Harry?"

"Sounds good, though I don't want him in the Department of Magical Games and Sport."

That got some chuckles, as the DMGS oversaw the BQL in conjunction with the league owners, and organized the English, Scottish, and Welsh national Quiddtich teams, the first and third of which Harry was eligible for. Any high ranking DMGS person would have a decent amount of Harry contact, even if only through paperwork.

Arthur had stuck around, so he cleared his throat.

"I'll take him. My third in charge is retiring in March, he can take over for her. Better that he be watched over by someone who knows him, at first anyway." That job was the one he had in mind for Ginny in a few years, but she needed more experience anyway.

Both Aurors liked that solution, and Stenner said as much.

"That sounds very reasonable of you Arthur, thank you. Who is to be your sponsored candidate for Minister then? Diggory?"

"That is our agreement with him, he would make a decent caretaker. Your ideas?" Bill kept his voice neutral, as if hoping that they would have a better idea to present to him.

Airy and Axel looked at each other and shrugged.

"He's a good a candidate as any, everyone in the department either likes him, respects him, or both."

"Glad to hear it. We'll make sure that the two of you are suitably promoted for your efforts today."

A pair of cynical chuckles from the Aurors, as Airy smiled:

"You think you have that much influence with him? How long has he been working with you?"

"Not long, but he was the one who told us about the habeas corpus and the inspections."

"Tricky, very tricky. Now, while we're alone. This information will stay between us, but we have to know: How high is your body count? Don't deny the Yaxley thing, and you've already fessed up to Lucius. Draco and Narcissa too I take it?"

"Yes, and sort of." Bill couldn't wait to tell an outsider this story, and these two guys, neither of whom he had ever met, seemed okay.

"Eh?"

Harry continued:

"Pansy Malfoy, while working for us, took it upon herself to kill Narcissa."

Stenner and Masterson both started chuckling until they realized that Harry wasn't kidding. The former:

"You had the Parkinsons working for you?"

"Just Pansy and Anson, we killed Pansy when she tried to have Hermione killed."

More eye goggling, but Masterson quickly put an end to this line of talk:

"Okay, Boxing Day, lunch in London, the four of us and your ladies. You tell the whole story, and we will fill in whatever gaps need to be filled in. Otherwise we'll be here all night, and there are things need attending to before we leave."

"Deal. Now what?" Bill assumed it would be Robards stuff.

"We wait for that fraud Vendish and give him his good news. But before that, Harry, please take the Metamorph thing off your door so that we can talk to Phideas." Later on, Stenner was going to ask Harry to teach it to him, it could be very valuable.

Harry did so, and Macel Phideas was brought into the house. She had a very scared look about her, especially seeing Masterson and Stenner so allied with Bill and Harry, though it was mostly an act for their consumption. She knew that the latter two had to know about Percy, and that black sheep or not, a Weasley was still a Weasley. After putting up a Silencing Bubble, Stenner got to the point right away:

"Macel, it's your lucky day……..night, whatever. You will not be charged with any crimes, but instead you will 'voluntarily' emigrate to the non-Britain country of your choice, never to return of course. There is just one thing that you have to do first." He made the thing seem almost inconsequential.

"A full confession?" She asked rather hopefully.

"That would be nice, but we need you to take care of a problem for us. A certain someone needs to die, and it would just wonderful if you would take care of that for us, and of course take the blame."

"You don't mean……" She almost couldn't believe her ears.

Stenner was loving this.

"Yep, you will assassinate the Minister of Magic. Do it, and you stroll right on out of the country a free woman. Banished, sure, but free. You have five seconds to decide."

"Why me?" She was thinking that a pensieve memory of this conversation in the right hands would be very valuable for her.

"Because you're convenient, that's why. And don't get any ideas about blackmailing us, if I get even one whiff of betrayal from you, into Azkaban you go, without trial, for a long, long time." Axel was already trying on the title of Head Auror Axel Stenner in his mind, and liking it very much.

And she believed his threat, everyone could tell, Stenner had the reputation of someone who could get that done. Masterson decided to pitch in to the effort:

"Your five seconds are up Macel, decide now."

"Yes."

"Good. You'll be taken downstairs and guarded, after we're done with the subject, you will do the deed, and somehow escape. Do we have an understanding?" Masterson too was thinking about the office he would have as the DMLE Head under the new regime, once Diggory took over.

"We do. Sir."

"Excellent, remember, everyone gets what they want if you do what I say. If not, there will be problems. Lucy!" He called out to Lucy Wolverton, who Stenner had told him was the first to suggest the flipping. She was a riser, Masterson thought, and he delegated the guarding of Phideas to her.

It was easy, as it turned out, as Lucy Stunned her the moment they got to the basement. Phideas was taken care of.

"And what happened to the disappearing men Harry? That was quite an interesting visual you know, poor Axel here missed it."

"Mini-portkeys, the latest thing. I got the concept and execution from some folks at the bank, human and goblin. They get around the wards because the wards prevent you from going outside the house, like a net. They don't prevent you from moving within the house, unless you style them that way, and you lot didn't have that chance, or the time. They went right into a holding pen in the basement."

"And the couldn't use their wands to get out?"

"A magical dead zone that I created, no spells in a two by two meter area. If things go along smoothly between us, eventually I'll teach you how to do it."

He knew that the goblins wouldn't dare teach something like that to an Auror, and Harry planned to extract a humongous concession from Masterson and/or Stenner before he did so. But he could tell that they liked it, that they were intrigued. That was good enough for right now.

One last thing before they went back to the group, as Masterson was a little hesitant.

"I'm guessing that you know we got in because of Rachel Brunsden." Who was now resting comfortably after her ordeal, and in 12 no less.

"We do."

"Her kids were threatened, and she did what she had to do Harry. The husband was given Veritaserum to see what the parchment did when he violated it, and he was knocked out. How long before he comes to?"

"12 hours, but it's a doubling kind of thing, the next violation will be 24 hours, then 48 and so on." Bill was really proud of the parchments, and was sneakily a little happy that someone had finally tested it, though he wasn't pleased about the circumstances. He also didn't say whether it would double for each person's violation, or each violation within the group. Only he knew that, Bill had not even told Harry that particular detail.

"Well it's non-violent anyway. Look, I played my part with threatening her, and I'm not proud of it. Just be easy on her. What would you have done if we'd had Teddy? Think of it that way."

"I would have started murdering people until he came back to me, and heaven help you if he came back with a scratch." Harry felt that he needed to make a point here.

And it was made, as he saw their faces.

"That said, she'll be fine, no retribution." He enjoyed the looks of relief on their faces, it was clear that both men felt guilty about their part in the Brunsden business. He would never know that Gawain Robards and Trenton Lee had talked about this same thing right before the battle. Lee was in the living room, praying that his boss' questioning wouldn't be so specific as to expose him.

Now Masterson and Stenner went into the living room, where their Aurors were enjoying some free food and beverage, courtesy of Harry. Though not for long.

"Okay, Aurors and other Ministry personnel, it's time to get going. Go home, celebrate Christmas, have fun with your families. Remember, any of you that's quoted in Friday's Daily Prophet is in big trouble unless cleared by myself, Axel, or Mr. Diggory in advance. Thank you for your service today, let us all give thanks that it was not much, much worse here in this little misunderstanding." He waved his arms, and people started trickling out, most of them making a point to say to Harry how impressed they were with his funhouse. After the fact they were impressed, the experience itself was not one they had enjoyed.

Baronio was still not back with Vendish yet, so it was just The Order, along with Stenner, Masterson, Kingsley, and Robards left. The latter two did not have their wands, but otherwise were not tied up in any way. No one was talking with them, and they were, wisely, not talking with each other either.

Bill, who had been content to let Masterson and Stenner do most of the talking before, decided to reassert his authority a bit.

"Kingsley, you have two options right now: Obliviation, or you re-join The Order and sign the secrecy parchment that we now know that you are aware of. What's it to be?"

"I don't like either option Bill, I have committed no crimes, so attempting to put me on trial would be rather pointless." The confidence of one who believes that his ass is covered.

"I don't care what you like, or don't like. You're going to do one or the other as the cost of doing business. You invaded our home, former mate, and we don't want you blabbing about what happened afterward. Do it, or else."

"Or else what?" Harry had been threatening him, vaguely, like this for months, and Kingsley finally decided to call the bluff on Bill.

"Well my Obliviation skills are not those of a professional you know, I might mess something up. A little slip is all it would take." Actually Bill's skills, honed from years in Egypt, were just below professional level and probably good enough to do the job here.

"I'll let you know what I decide, after you finish with The Minister here." He was convinced that they would not hurt him.

"Just remember, you ordered the use of Avada Kedavra against us. We will never, ever forget that. Now sit there and keep quiet." He quietly signaled to Harry to continue:

"As for you, dear Minister. You lost today, please tell me that you are not so thick that you don't realize this."

"I am not, but thank you for pointing it out to me Harry." Robards was now quite scared, unlike Kingsley. Because, unlike Kingsley, he did not have past history with anyone in the room, other than barely knowing Diggory and Arthur before the war. But he chose to appear calm, confident that the by the book Masterson would not allow anything to bad to happen to him. By the book was why he had selected Airy in the first place for his role in the plan.

"You're most welcome. Your letter of resignation in our hands, a full confession under Veritaserum, and this entire mess goes away. No trial, no public reminder that yet again, a Minister of Magic proved to be an incompetent dolt. The fourth in a row, in my opinion, I was in Surrey for Millicent Bagnold so I can't speak for her." He walked up to Robards, who was half a head taller than he was, but it was clear who was threatening whom.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't be ready for you? Really?"

"Not as ready as you were, no. And I don't believe that you'll leave it at a resignation and confession."

"There's no use questioning the air when there is nothing else to breathe, is there."

The rest of the Order didn't think for one second that it would be that easy for Robards, even Molly, which is why not one of them objected.

"I want my trial, where everything will come out Harry, including your own crimes. You will be the star witness in my defense." His ace in the hole, or so he thought.

"Who says you're getting a trial? You removed habeas corpus my friend, you can sit in prison until the law is repealed. Hopefully no one will forget to retrieve you there when it does." Harry liked the look that his riposte generated.

"You're not going to do that Harry, your whole platform would fall apart if it got out that you rigged a coup. No, there will be a trial."

"You understand that you're in a room that is very hostile to you right now, don't you?"

"I'm not afraid." He even sounded like he believed it.

"I give you points for that, or for being such a skilled liar. But either way, you're going to spill what you know. Bill."

Bill kept a copy of the secrecy parchment in his and Fleur's room, on standby sort of. Fleur had gone up to get it, and it was presented to Kingsley.

"Do it Kingsley, our fight is not with you here. Sign it, and nothing harmful other than a demotion will happen to you, and that part is not my call to make anyway. Nothing else will happen, you have my word."

There was debate among designers of such parchments over whether Imperious compelled signatures would work. Bill had not field tested that as of yet, but he was willing to try it if Kingsley balked.

But he didn't. He took the pen and signed, not looking at Robards as he did so. If he had, he would have found that there was no glaring, no contempt. Gawain Robards rarely held grudges unless he had to, he would have done the same as Kingsley did in a similar circumstance.

"Thank you Kingsley, you're now back in the fold, though you will forgive us if we don't trust you, ever. You may leave now, give your wife our best, and have a Merry Christmas."

Bill reached out his hand to shake, and Kingsley had the class to take it. No one told him about his new assignment in Muggle Affairs, but that was due to one key thing:

No one other than Bill and Harry could really talk right now, since outsiders were present. None of those assembled wanted to test the parchment. Even Diggory was smart enough to keep quiet. The now former Head Auror left with as much of his dignity intact as he could muster. Robards was quickly tied up, and Arthur was handed the man's wand, in case Percy's father felt like snapping it any point during the interrogation to come.

Danilo Baronio, Stenner's left hand man, arrived with Wival Vendish, who was taken into the other room and informed of his promotion. To say that he looked happy was rather an understatement, even after being told that the DMLE and its members would insist on a legally timely election.

"No matter, no matter, whatever the current law says is what we will do. I don't even know if I would run anyway. Robards is going to prison?" It didn't really look like he minded the prospect.

"Where would you like him to go, Minister?"

Vendish, despite knowing at best 30 percent of the story, nevertheless had a flexible view of such things:

"Axel, Airy, I am sure that you have things well under control. I have no interest in interfering in the affairs of your fief. Am I needed for anything else?"

"Have a Merry Christmas, Minister Vendish." Airy said that with a straight face, and the newly anointed Minister shook his hand with vigor, as he did the ones offered to him by Axel, Harry, and Bill.

"Harry, if we might have lunch sometime during your BQL hiatus, I would be very interested to get to know you better." Vendish was nothing if not a networker.

Which reminded Harry and Bill greatly of Slughorn, the men even looked similar. Hmmmm.

"Have your assistant send me an owl sir, and I'll be happy to buy you lunch." There was no harm in it, he thought, and it might be nice to be on good terms with at least one Minister of Magic at some point, a welcome change.

The new Minister smilingly let himself out the door, and the four men left stared at each other.

"What the hell have we done?" Stenner was this close to trying to walk this all back.

"You'd better get your father elected Wizengamot Head Axel, or we'll be finished if that salesman wins the election."

"I'll bend his ear at dinner tomorrow, trust me Airy. Now guys, the coup de grace, so to speak?"

"You lot need to sign the parchments too, temporarily, so that we can all talk freely in there." Bill was taking Axel literally when he said that he and his two colleagues were joining the Order, and Masterson was being included too.

"I was wondering why everyone was so quiet." Stenner was very impressed, smiling craftily.

"Rules of the game my new friend, rules of the game."

Both men were willing, and those two, along with Baronio and Wolverton, the latter eventually, all signed, though Masterson had sent his personal crew home without telling them anything. Masterson requested to be the first interrogator, and in a fit of Christmas spirit, Bill agreed:

"Gawain, I don't know what to tell you here. You were at a poker table with a decent hand, but you went all in before knowing what the other players were capable of. Why couldn't you just be Minister and gain support through regular means? The next election is years away, there was no opposition, none. Lucius was put to heel, Harry was trying to get some sleep, there was no one. What happened man?"

"I'll tell you everything, at trial."

"If only it was going to be that simple. Professor Slughorn, if you will please."

Harry got to pull Robards' head back, the last time in his life that he would touch the man. It had the requisite effect though, and Slughorn dropped the Veritaserum inside the prisoner's mouth. Masterson waited for a moment, then commenced firing:

"Your name and occupation for the record please, what are they?"

"Gawain Yosef Robards, Minister of Magic for Great Britain."

"Are you being held against your will?"

"Yes."

"When was your last sexual encounter?" The ultimate control question, and Airy saw Bill and Harry smile.

"Yesterday."

Robards was single, with no known girlfriend, so this raised some eyebrows.

"With whom?"

"Macel Phideas." He did have the grace to look embarrassed.

But Harry couldn't resist.

"Was she willing?" He could see some of his male friends smirking at the question, and even Ginny covered her mouth.

"Yes."

"Well that's nice to hear. She has agreed to work for us, and that does not bode well for you later on, if you don't cooperate." He winked as he said the last bit.

"I'm under a truth drug, how can I not cooperate?" Still, he knew now how they planned to kill him, Robards was quite intelligent in most matters.

"Nuance Gawain, nuance. Was Harry Potter to be killed after his arrest tonight?" Airy figured that he might as well get the big questions out of the way first, for the sake of the audience.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"He has become too formidable an adversary."

"He is 16 years from being able to take your job, why is he an adversary?" This was all for the record, as Masterson knew all too well how formidable an adversary Harry was.

"Because he is a threat, he can galvanize people to do things, he's an insipiration, if you will. If he decided that he wanted us brought down, he could do it. He is the new Dumbledore, like the Daily Prophet was saying."

While Attila Quirke was not hear, his interest in the Order didn't include chatting with them, his granddaughter reacted very visibly to the mention of the family business. She didn't glance at Harry during the Dumbledore mention, one of the few not to do so.

"Would it have been too much trouble to sit down with him, and see where his future interests lay?"

"Seeds needed to be planted, this was set to be a long-term operation."

"How long-term?"

"The end of next year."

This confirmed Lucius' version of the story, much to the relief of Bill and company. But it still rankled them.

"Why the acceleration?"

"The Yaxley burning, it showed them becoming too proactive for our comfort."

"Who is 'our'?"

"Myself, Phideas, Trenton Lee. They take orders from me, but they know everything."

Trenton Lee's brother lived in Dallas, Texas, and the Auror was on his way to Heathrow right now after some hasty packing of his things. He had known this would happen, and having been to Azkaban as a visitor before, he had no real desire to be an inmate.

Masterson was assuming that Lee would take off, but he made a mental note to try to have him arrested anyway.

"How was Harry to be killed?"

"Lee and Phideas were to use whatever means they wished at the time, during an attempted escape."

"You don't know what they had planned?"

"Only a quick death, no fuss. They were ordered not to torture him beforehand."

"Well that was mighty generous of you. How did you get the money for all of us this? Lucius?" Again, Airy didn't know what the Order knew.

"No, I used Ministry funds, I did not want Lucius to be able to hold that over my head."

"I don't blame you. Please detail for us how you embezzled Ministry funds for your activities."

Robards did so, it wasn't that hard as it turned out, as budgets for The Unspeakables, to name one department, were very black, and specific transactions in black budgets did not go before Comptroller Tanner Leonidas, newly minted Order member and stickler for financial detail in triplicate.

Who would have a coronary when he found out about all of this. As bankers, Bill and Fleur had a funny feeling that black budgets were going to be thing of the past if these three Aurors had anything to say about it.

"How much did Kingsley actually know?"

"Relatively little."

"Did he know that you planned to kill Harry at some point?"

"He must have suspected, but I never out and out told him." He threw in that first bit as his little revenge on Kingsley, the drugs didn't make him say it.

"Did he know about Percy's death and Andromeda's death."

"No."

"Did you have contact with anyone in The True Voice other than Lucius Malfoy?"

"No."

"Are you aware that he is dead?"

"No." But he could not have been less surprised.

"Who do you think killed him?"

"Harry, or Bill."

Bill indicated that he wanted to take over the questioning, and Masterson nodded.

"No, and kind of close. Are you unhappy that he is dead?" He wouldn't tell Robards, or the three Aurors, that it was Charlie who had killed Lucius.

"Of course not."

"Were you going to do the killing of him eventually, or were you relying on us to get to it?"

"The latter."

"Why?"

"I was certain that he would goad you enough to snap. Which one of you did it?"

"Pansy killed him, she was working for us the entire time." A lie, and a half truth, as the 'entire' time was somewhat elastic.

Robards surprised them all by chuckling.

"Found a better horse did she? Was she after Potter?"

No gasps, but some raised eyebrows accompanied the question. Harry decided that since Robards was minutes away from dying anyway, there was no harm in telling him. Roger Ebert, and his theory about 'the Talking Killer' would have tut tutted this, but he wasn't around.

"Yes she was, but she got impatient and rushed things, getting caught. I killed her soon after. Sound like anyone you know?" A smile accompanied the remark.

"It does, I should have given the overall plan more time. But mistakes are a part of everyday life Harry, you're not above them yourself, are you?"

"Of course not, but I don't play chess with peoples' lives! I'm a product of my environment Gawain, I assume that we're still on first name basis. You have helped form my environment, so the Yaxley deaths are on your head! I was content to just play Quidditch and live my life, but you lot had to get greedy!"

Harry was less than a meter away as he screamed at Robards, getting some Andromeda issues out of the way. But no one stopped him, his wand was in his pocket, and his hands weren't unconsciously grabbing for it, or balling into fists.

There wasn't a question in there, but Robards chose to respond anyway.

"Yes, I probably should have met with you, gotten a lay of the land. For what it is worth, your friend Kingsley talked me out of it. Not because he had anything hostile in mind of course, but you weren't sleeping and he was conscious of your history with Ministry officials, he didn't want you saying something you might regret later."

"So it's Kingsley's fault?"

"No, it's mine, and if you're going to kill me, I would rather you get it over with."

"I could give rat's ass what you want."

"Lucius and I talked each other into Andromeda, if that's what you are wondering. But tell me that young Teddy isn't better off here, fully in our world with all of these people to take care of him. Andromeda was debating not sending him to Hogwarts at all, did you know that?"

Bill jumped in:

"You are saying that Andromeda might not have sent him to Hogwarts?" That would make the Veritaserum force the truth, Robards' earlier statement was voluntary and could have been a lie.

"Yes."

"I would have had 9 years to talk her into it, don't you dare try to use Teddy to justify what you did." Still, that bothered him a bit, and would later on when he had time to really think about it.

"Mistakes were made, now get your next one over with and kill me."

"That would not be a mistake."

"I beg to differ. You are performing a coup Harry, your first if I'm not in error. But I hardly think it will be your last. You're a lightning rod whether you like it or not, and you will always have to have one eye peeled on the Minister of the day. It's a slippery slope that you are about to step on, but a slope all the same. In fact, it's not really your first coup is it? If you had given Scrimgeour your full throated support, he might have been able to hold out against Voldemort." He liked the looks he got for that last sentence, he was now trying to goad Harry into getting the whole thing over with.

And it worked like the proverbial charm.

"I'm having Dumbledore flashbacks right now, get her up here!"

Harry didn't address that to anyone in particular, but Ron and George nonetheless went downstairs to collect Wolverton and a now revived Macel Phideas.

While they were coming up, Bill asked a few more technical and procedural questions about Robards' activities, but there was little more than what they already knew from him, Lucius, Yaxley, and their own experiences. Pretty much everyone in the room was thinking that waiting another day might not be so bad, but they didn't want to give Vendish any time to think, or Masterson and Stenner to change their minds.

The Metamorph was given her wand, but had another dozen trained at different parts of her body in the bargain. After being placed in front of Robards, Masterson instructed her to fire.

"We know now that he was more than just a boss to you, but that changes nothing of what has to happen. Do it, and you live. If you don't do it, we'll use your wand and blame you anyway, and we'll find a hole to keep you in. Now, if you please. Just put a nice Reducto between his eyes, from that distance it should do the job nicely.

Phideas was very calm under the worst of circumstances, and she had only been attracted to Robards because of his power. Power that was about to be terminated by these people whether she helped them or not. She lined up her wand, less than a third of a meter from him:

"Reducto!"

It hit his nose, she wasn't the best shot even from close range like this, there was a reason that she was not an Auror. But the nose was driven back through the brain sufficiently to kill him instantly.

With no tears from anyone, the Minister of Magic was now dead. Long live Minister Wival Vendish. For now.

Not part of the deal she had been given was her Obliviation, but Bill did it anyway. He removed the killing part, and the deal offered to her, and instead told her that she was only being accused of the murder, and that if she ran away and never returned to Britain, she would be safe.

The parchment banning her was not used, as this was deemed to be good enough. Whether they ever saw her again, that would be another question. But she left the house without incident, and wound up being on the boat to Cherbourg on Boxing Day.

The four Aurors stayed for a little bit to enjoy some food, after their long evening, but eventually left to be with their own families, all four were married or otherwise spoken for, after a stop to The Ministry to let Rachel Brunsden be with her still unconscious til morning husband. They also took Robards' body with them, he would be 'discovered' in his office tomorrow by the holiday shift, which coincidentally included Danilo Baronio and Lucy Wolverton.

Or not coincidentally.

That left The Order, and after some group cleaning up, Bill had something to say as he raised his wine glass.

"To The Order of the Phoenix. You saw as much teamwork here tonight as you would see in any sports team in the world, muggle or magical. Tonight validated our re-forming all those months ago, I am so very proud of all of us. Thank you."

Everyone lightly applauded, and took a sip. Bender, a bit surprisingly, was next:

"To Harry Potter and his house of horrors, we just routed one of the better trained Auror cadres in the world, thanks in large part to his wards. To Harry!"

A really long round of applause, and Harry was elbowed in the side by Hermione, she wanted him to say something.

"I would like to echo what Bill said, and thank Soren for what she said. You all are my friends and family and I love you all. There have been some hard times over the years, but the day Hagrid told me that I was a Wizard is still one of the greatest days of my life. Thanks to you it is." He raised his glass again, and drained it, a big smile on his face.

And the party continued for another few hours, some steam to let off, a few drinks, or few dozen, to be swallowed. Some celebrating to do. It was the holiday season, and everyone of them felt that magical Great Britain was a safer place than it was on Christmas 1998.

As they were getting ready for bed a little later, Harry and Hermione were pretty quiet, both going over the events of the day, and of the next day. Only 30 minutes until Christmas Day remained, there was The Burrow to visit, the Granger house, and the opening of presents by Teddy, and other people. But mainly by Teddy, the little fellow was getting quite a haul.

It was only after they were in bed, with the lights out, that Hermione spoke.

"So this mess today should make for an interesting chapter in your book." He had told Hermione about the book from the start, even before they began their relationship. But no one had read it yet, or even knew where he kept it for that matter. And people had looked.

"Oh it will be more than one chapter, but yeah, big doings in 12."

"Another fire that was put out."

"I know, our little world seems more flammable that the muggle world, doesn't it?"

They shared a laugh, and snuggled together.

"That's because even the weakest of us is dangerous, but it does make life interesting. I wonder what the next chapter is going to bring?"

"You know, I kind of hope that it doesn't happen for awhile, if ever." He sounded a bit conflicted as he said it.

"Really? Ever?" She could see how Harry would want a break though.

"I know I keep getting told that I like being around the action, and maybe that will be the case. But I do kinda want to see if the grass is greener on the boring side of life." He took a deep breath and smelled her hair, he knew that life with Hermione would always be fun, how could he have ever thought of trading her in?

"Well then that's what I want for us too. No more The Adventures of Harry Potter? The book is complete?" Boring might not be so bad, right?

He drew her even closer, as they prepared to celebrate the first minutes of Christmas in a very fun way.

"Maybe, we'll see."

**The End**

And I Thank You


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